Dynamic behavior analysis of bridge pier under impact of dam-break flood in different directions

The dam-break flood formed after the collapse of a dam due to factors like earthquakes and heavy rainfall poses a significant potential threat to the safe service of downstream bridge pier. To reveal the dynamic behavior of bridge pier under impact of dam-break flood, a calculation model for a bridge pier under the impact of dam-break flood was established based on the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. On this basis, dynamic response of wave pressure and wave force due to varying impact angles of the flood on the pier was explored. Results demonstrate that the wave pressure on the pier gradually weakens with the increase in the impact angle, and the flood exerts little influences on the pier when the angle exceeds 45°; wave pressure decreases more significantly at the bottom of the pier as the impact angle increases; the pier is sensitive to influences of initial water height, when the initial wave height remains unchanged, the floods exert gradually deceased influences on the pier with the dam-break flood height rising. Finally, the wave flume experiments were carried out to verify the accuracy and reasonability of our proposed SPH-based calculation model.