Code-to-Code Verification of End-Anchored Floating Bridge Global Analysis

A code-to-code comparison of the dynamic characteristics of an end-anchored floating pontoon bridge is presented for two commercial software commonly used in the offshore industry, i.e. SIMO-RIFLEX and ORCAFLEX. Furthermore, a second comparison of the hydrodynamic properties of the floating pontoons are compared between two commercial Boundary Element Method software, i.e. AQWA and WADAM. The pontoons are modelled with an extended bottom to change the dynamic properties of the bridge structure. Viscous effects of this so-called heave plate is not considered in the study. The study shows good comparisons between the natural periods of the floating bridge structure and both software yield good convergence in the time domain. However, significant differences in the stochastic response has been found.