Hydroelastic analysis of a nonlinearly connected floating bridge subjected to moving loads

In this paper, the motion equations for the nonlinearly connected floating bridge, considering the nonlinear properties of connectors and vehicles' inertia effects, are proposed. The super-element method is used to condense the whole calculation scale, and the direct integration and Newton-Raphson iteration method are applied to solve the reduced equations. Based on the modal and static analyses, the dynamic displacement and connection forces characteristics of a floating bridge with nonlinear connectors subjected to moving loads are investigated. It is found that nonlinearity and initial gap of the connectors are important for the hydroelastic response of a nonlinearly connected floating bridge.