Multi-scale bridge wash out simulation during tsunami by using a particle method

In 2011, the huge tsunami caused by the great east Japan earthquake devastated many infrastructures in pacific coast of north eastern Japan. Particularly, collapse of bridges caused a traffic disorder and these collapse behaviors led to delay of recovery after the disaster. In this study, the bridge wash away accident is selected as a target issue, and it is represented by a numerical simulation. For this purpose, Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) Method, which is one of the pure mesh free methods, is utilized for the rigid body motion simulation. In this study, rigid body motion is introduced for the fluid-rigid interaction behavior during bridge wash away simulation. In the numerical analysis, the upper bridge structure is washed away by receiving an impact fluid force. The wash away simulation of two types of the bridge girder showed good agreement with the real accident on the great east Japan earthquake tsunami.