Effects of fundamental structure parameters on dynamic responses of submerged floating tunnel under hydrodynamic loads

This paper investigates the effects of structure parameters on dynamic responses of submerged floating tunnel (SFT) under hydrodynamic loads. The structure parameters includes buoyancy-weight ratio (BWR), stiffness coefficients of the cable systems, tunnel net buoyancy and tunnel length. First, the importance of structural damp in relation to the dynamic responses of SFT is demonstrated and the mechanism of structural damp effect is discussed. Thereafter, the fundamental structure parameters are investigated through the analysis of SFT dynamic responses under hydrodynamic loads. The results indicate that the BWR of SFT is a key structure parameter. When BWR is 1.2, there is a remarkable trend change in the vertical dynamic response of SFT under hydrodynamic loads. The results also indicate that the ratio of the tunnel net buoyancy to the cable stiffness coefficient is not a characteristic factor affecting the dynamic responses of SFT under hydrodynamic loads. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (10532070) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (KJCX2-YW-L07).