Analytical Models of Floating Bridges Subjected by Moving Loads for Different Water Depths

There are two types of floating bridge such as discrete-pontoon floating bridges and continuous-pontoon floating bridges. Analytical models of both floating bridges subjected by moving loads are presented to study the dynamic responses with hydrodynamic influence coefficients for different water depths. The beam theory and potential theory are introduced to produce the models. The hydrodynamic coefficients and dynamic responses of bridges are evaluated by the boundary element method and by the Galerkin method of weighted residuals, respectively. Considering causal relationship between the frequencies of the oscillation of floating bridges and the added mass coefficients, an iteration method is introduced to compute hydrodynamic frequencies. The results indicate that water depth has little influence upon the dynamic responses of both types of floating bridges, so that the effect of water depth can be neglected during the course of designing floating bridges.