Floating Bridges

Glosten has analyzed the dynamic response of Washington State’s floating bridges for: condition appraisals; new design verification; refurbishments; maintenance planning; and operations guidance. For each of the State’s bridges the combined effects of steady wind, current, and steady wave drift forces, and first order harmonic wave forces have been evaluated. Unsteady wind loads and slowly varying wave drift forces have also been applied. The floating bridge spans range from 5,886 feet to 7,515 feet , and the bridge sections range from 50 to 75 feet wide and have hull depths ranging from 14.5′ to 16′.

Due to the slenderness of the bridge spans the bridge responds as an elastic body. Glosten has developed highly efficient methods for the frequency domain analysis of hydroelastic problems of this type. The extensive analysis work we have accomplished for the State of Washington has contributed to cost effective improvements in safety, reliability, operations, and maintenance of the floating bridges in their care.