Study of the bridge damage during flooding based on a coupled VOF-FSI method

Floods can damage bridges, sometimes irreversibly. In this work, a coupled approach has been developed, based on the coupling volume of fluid (VOF) method with structural dynamics, for deeply understanding the structural dynamics response to the bridges. Firstly, the model of the corresponding fluid domain with the field measurement of the bridge has been established. Then the computing results have been deeply analyzed, and the data exchange between the fluid and the solid meshes was accomplished through the fluid structure interaction (FSI) method. It found that some significant changes in the vortex around the bridge, the stress-strain and deformation were consistent with the measured breakage locations in the field as well (the water velocity decreases rapidly from 6 m/s to 1 m/s in the vicinity of the bridge and the stress increases rapidly from 20,000 Pa to 230,000 Pa in the bridge body). The effectiveness of the VOF-FSI method for dynamic simulation analysis of structures under flooding is also demonstrated. Finally, some meaningful recommendations and conclusions are discussed.