Numerical Investigation Of Structural Responses Impacted By Flood Flow

«ABSTRACT: Floods are recognized as one of the most frequent and destructive natural disasters globally. Their severity is exacerbated by the effects of climate change (increased precipitation) and human construction (reduced natural capacity to absorb water). Structures built in waterprone areas, such as bridges and dams, are usually vulnerable to severe flood events. For problems involving fluid water, hydraulic researchers commonly assume that structures are "infinitely" rigid and use impervious wall boundaries to present the structures in numerical models. However, structures will deform, vibrate, and even be damaged during a severe flood event. From a structural engineer’s perspective, it is important to incorporate structural flexibility into the fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis. Because the size of the fluid domain is significantly larger than that of the structures, a large set of elements is generated, making the FSI analysis time-consuming, especially for cases with a long 3D channel and refined meshes. As a result, an efficient and accurate simplified modeling method is needed. Also, the hydrodynamic behavior of structures such as the bridge in a stream and the dam structure at the end of a partially ice-covered channel is not well known. To address this problem, this research numerically investigated the structural responses with the impact of flood flow considering the structural flexibility, focusing on the dynamic interaction between fluid water and solid structures, the 3D effects of fluid and structures, the sliding of structures (e.g. sliding of bridge deck), and the presence of partial ice cover positioned at the top of the water in a channel.»