Vulnerability of Bridge Piers to Collision by Heavy Vehicles

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PI: Sherif El-Tawil, University of MichiganThe events of Sept. 11th and the ongoing terror threats highlight the vulnerability of our infrastructure to new and unfamiliar risks. Unprotected bridge piers, in particular, are vulnerable to accidental or malicious collision by heavy vehicles. Many bridges in the national inventory are supported on single column piers or two-column bents (Fig. 1a) and can be rendered useless by an attack on a single column. Local communities and economies dependent on such vulnerable bridges face significant exposure. The intent of this project is to investigate the use of high fidelity numerical modeling for simulating the response of bridge piers subjected to collision by vehicles. Detailed vehicle models will be crashed into bridge pier models with the objective of studying the parameters influencing vehicle versus structure collision. The proposed simulations are expected to lead to a better understanding of the collision process and will lead to quantification of structural demands created by such extreme events. This research addresses a critical topic or immediate national importance: the security of our bridges and their vulnerability to impact by heavy vehicles. The products of this research will promote the development of performance-based design philosophies which incorporate security concerns in the design process. This will ultimately enable civil engineers to rehabilitate existing structures and design new bridges that are more resistant to accidents and terror attacks.