Vulnerability of Bridge Piers to Collision by Heavy Vehicles

PI: Sherif El-Tawil，密歇根大学9·11事件和持续不断的恐怖威胁凸显了我们的基础设施在面对新的和不熟悉的风险时的脆弱性。无保护的桥墩尤其容易受到重型车辆的意外或恶意碰撞。国家清单上的许多桥梁都是由单柱墩或两柱弯支撑的（图1a），如果单柱受到攻击，它们就会变得毫无用处。依赖于这些脆弱桥梁的当地社区和经济面临着巨大的风险。这个项目的目的是研究使用高保真数值模型来模拟桥梁桥墩受到车辆碰撞的反应。将详细的车辆模型与桥墩模型碰撞，研究影响车辆与结构碰撞的参数。所提出的模拟预计将导致对碰撞过程的更好理解，并将导致由这种极端事件产生的结构需求的量化。这项研究解决了一个关键的话题或直接的国家重要性：我们的桥梁的安全及其对重型车辆影响的脆弱性。这项研究的成果将促进基于性能的设计理念的发展，将安全问题纳入设计过程。这最终将使土木工程师能够修复现有的结构，并设计出更能抵御事故和恐怖袭击的新桥。

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.