Simplified Hydrodynamic Design Procedure of a Submerged Floating Tube Bridge Across the Digernessund of Norway

The paper will look into the hydrodynamic loads and responses on the proposed Submerged Floating Tube Bridge (SFTB) through the Digernessund by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen, NPRA). The aim is to show how different hydrodynamics aspects during the prelimiary design can be simply addressed under the given environmental conditions. Different SFTB systems are introduced as the first step. A simplified method based on modal analysis is introduced and implemented for evaluation of the motions and stress, bending moments along the bridge. Firstly, a 2D Boundary Element Method (BEM) solver is developed and verified, which is further used for solving the hydrodynamics coefficients of different bridge cross sections. The 3D hydrodynamic coefficients of pontoons are solved by the commercial software AQWA. The analysis procedure of the simplified method for the global SFTB responses is presented. The Eigen periods of the Bjørnefjord SFTB is re-calculated by the present model as a first validation of the implementation. The loads and responses of the bridge under given wave conditions are then estimated. The evaluation of the possibility of vortex induced vibrations of the current SFTB design is given.