Bridges

The Australian Bridge Code AS 5100 provides a minimum collision load for bridge piers. The commentary to AS 5100 notes that if the bridge pier is adjacent to a high speed (greater than 60 km/h) roadway then higher collision loads should be investigated, but provides no guidance to designers as to how this should be undertaken. For the Peninsula Link project an innovative approach was adopted bringing together a transient dynamic 3D analysis of piers subject to differing mass/velocity combinations, and a probabilistic assessment of the differing events based on vehicle mass vehicle speed and road geometry. For this particular project the results showed that adoption of the AS 5100 minimum collision loading was conservative for all piers, and no special pier protection barriers were required. It is envisaged that this assessment methodology can be adopted for other instances where piers are subject to collision from road traffic, and thus provide a quantitative means to determine the applicability of the AS 5100 minimum collision load and the need for additional pier protection.