Numerical simulation and experimental study of submerged floating tunnel subjected to moving vehicle load

To investigate the dynamic behavior of the submerged floating tunnel (SFT) under moving vehicle load, a SFT experimental model is designed and analyzed. Through typical experiment cases, the effects of cable and vehicle with different parameters on the SFTs are discussed. Besides, the numerical simulation method is proposed in ABAQUS/EXPLICIT module for contrastive analysis. The *VUMAP and the *VDLOAD subroutines are used for implementing the tube fluid force and the moving vehicle load in the numerical model. The results show that the vertical vibration of the SFT is relatively independent to other directions, and the connection between the tubes will partially weaken the overall stiffness of the SFT. In addition, the deviation amplification effect exists in the SFT subjected to moving vehicle load. Increasing the cable inclination angle and the cable diameter can reduce the amplification effect. For the SFT with different cable spacing, the deviation amplification effect of dense cable arrangement is smaller than that of the sparse cable arrangement. But their sensitivities to vehicle velocity are not very different. In the practical project, the cables should provide sufficient strength to the SFT for safety.