BRIDGE ANALYSIS AND

DESIGN

A PRESENTATION ON
DESIGN OF PIERS
FOR
VESSEL COLLISION FORCE
Mississippi River Bridge
Sunshine Skyway Bridge, May 9, 1980
after being struck by the M/V Summit
Venture.
Scope of Work
THE BASIC INTENT OF THIS STUDY IS
 THE DETERMINATION OF VESSEL
COLLISION FORCES ON SUB
STRUCTURE (PIERS), ITS
APPLICATION AND COMBINATION
RULES.
 METHODS OF ANALYSIS AVAILABLE

 BRIDGE PROTECTION IN A NAVIGABLE

WATERWAY AGAINST VESSEL
COLLISION
Introduction
 Bridges located over the navigable
waterways could be threatened by the
accidental impact of passing ships.

 The basic intent is to provide bridge

components a reasonable resistance
against ship and barge collisions
Introduction
 All bridge components in a navigable
waterway crossing, located in design water
depths not less than 600mm, shall be
designed for vessel impact in accordance
with AASHTO specifications

 The risk concept is usually applied to

determine the bridge safety. The risk could
be defined as combination of probability and
consequences of given kind of accident
Design criteria
 Selection of design vessels
 Estimates of sizes of impact loads

 Rules for application of loads

 Types of collision
 Bow collisions
 sideway collisions
Factors Effecting vessel
collision
 SELECTION OF BRIDGE SITE
 SELECTION OF BRIDGE TYPE AND
CONFIGURATION
 HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL CLEARANCE
 APPROACH SPANS
 WATERWAY CHARATCTERSTICS
 CHANNEL LAYOUT AND GEOMETRY
 WATER DEPTH AND FLUCTUATIONS
 CURRENT SPEED AND DIRECTION
Overall risk to the Bridge(AF)
 Method I (AASHTO Guide)
 1.Collect vessel and waterway data
 2.Select design vessel and compute
collision loads
 Method II (AASHTO Guide, AASHTO LRFD)
 1.Collect vessel, navigation, waterway
and bridge data
 2.Perform probability based analysis and
select pier capacities
AASHTO Method II
 AF = (N) (PA) (PG) (PC)
 AF = Annual Frequency of Collapse
 N = Annual Number of Vessels
 PA = Probability of Vessel Aberrancy
 PG = Geometric Probability
 PC = Probability of Collapse
 AF acceptable: < 0.0001 for Critical
Bridges
 < 0.001 for Regular Bridges
Annual number of vessels, N

 Number of vessels N, grouped by

 Type
 Size and shape
 Loading condition
 Direction of traffic
 Adjusted for the water depth at each
pier
Probability of Vessel
Aberrancy, PA
 PA = (BR) (RB) (RC) (RXC) (RD)
 BR = Aberrancy base rate
 RB = Correction factor for bridge location
 RC = Correction factor for parallel current
 RXC=Correction factor for cross-currents
 RD = Correction factor for vessel density
 Correction factor
for bridge location,
RB

Waterway
Regions for
Bridge Location
Geometric Probability, PG

 Models the location of an aberrant

vessel relative to the channel
 Quantifies the conditional probability that
a vessel will hit a pier given that it is
aberrant
 Accounts for the lower likelihood of an
aberrant vessel being located further
away from the channel
 Accounts for Pier Protection
 Geometric
Probability Model

Normal Distribution
with σ = LOA

Geometric Probability
of Pier Distribution
Probability of Collapse, PC

 Reduces AF by a factor that varies from

0 to 1
 PC = 0.1+9(0.1-H/P) if 0.0<= H/P <0.1
 PC = (1.0-H/P)/9 if 0.1<= H/P <1.0
 PC = 0.0 if H/P >=1.0

where:
 H = resistance of bridge component
 P = vessel impact force
Ship Collision Force on
Pier, PS

 PS= 1.2x105 x V (DWT)1/2

 PS= Equivalent static impact force (N)
 DWT = Deadweight tonnage (Mg)
 V= Vessel collision velocity (m/sec)
 Ship Impact Force,
PS

Figure Shows
Typical Ship Impact
Forces
Barge Collision Force on
Pier, PB
 If aB < 100mm
 PB = 6.0 x 104 aB
 If aB > 100mm
 PB = 6.0 x 106 x 1600 x aB
Where:
 PB =Equivalent static barge impact
force. (N)
 aB=Barge bow damage length (mm)
Barge Impact
Force, PB

Figure Shows
Typical Hopper
Barge
Application of impact forces
 Collision forces on bridge substructures
are commonly applied as follows:
 100% of the design impact force in a
direction parallel to the navigation
channel (i.e., head-on)
 50% of the design impact force in the
direction normal to the channel (but
not simultaneous with the head-on
force)
Application of impact forces
 For overall stability, the design impact
force is applied as a concentrated
force at the mean high water level;

 For local collision forces, the design

impact force is applied as a vertical
line load equally distributed along the
ship’s bow depth for ships.
Bridge protection systems
 Piers exposed to vessel collision can
be protected by special structures
designed to absorb the impact loads
they are:
 Fender Systems
 Pile-Supported Systems
 Dolphin Protection Systems
 Island Protection Systems
 Floating Protection Systems