Transverse earthquake response and design analysis of submerged floating tunnels with various shore connections

The study investigates the seismic response of the Submerged Floating Tunnel (SFT) with different types of connection between the ends of SFT and the shore, including the rigid connection, hinged connection, elastic bearing connection, bi-linear elastic bearing connection, and passive isolation connection. In addition, the influence of various design parameters of the different types of shore bearings on the dynamic behavior of SFT is studied, involving the elastic stiffness of the elastic bearing, the secondary stiffness and turning force of stiffness of the bi-linear elastic bearing, plastic stiffness and yield shear force of the passive isolation bearing. An effective design method for the parameters of the bearing is proposed. The transverse stiffness of the cable which represents the stiffness of the whole structure is introduced as a reference of the bearing design. The seismic response of SFT can be significantly reduced by choosing proper parameters of the bearing based on the principle of redistribution of stiffness. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.