Calculation of Vehicle Impact Force on Socket Prefabricated Bridge Piers

You are here: Homepage > Search

Calculation of Vehicle Impact Force on Socket Prefabricated Bridge Piers

Han, Yan / Huang, Zhiming / Li, Zhaoxiang

The design and evaluation of bridge structural integrity following a collision accident heavily depend on the impact force of the vehicle colliding with the bridge piers. Socket prefabricated piers are commonly used in bridge engineering; however, limited research has been conducted on their impact force. To address this issue, this study employs finite element (FE) simulation to investigate the dynamic force and equivalent static force (ESF) of a vehicle colliding with socket prefabricated bridge columns. The study explores various parameters such as socket connection structural parameters, vehicle condition parameters, and pier parameters. Furthermore, the study evaluates four approaches, including the global average approach, local average approach, peak of the 25 ms moving average approach, and simplified pulse approach, to investigate the ESF. Results show that the impact force of the vehicle is significantly influenced by vehicle factors. Additionally, the socket depth of the pier has a great impact on heavy vehicle impacts. A suitable approach for calculating the ESF of a vehicle impacting socket prefabricated bridge piers was identified, and a corresponding calculation formula was developed. The formula is a function of the vehicle’s mass and velocity and the pier column socket depth, eliminating the need for cumbersome FE analyses.