Reliability-based Fire Protection of Structural Cables due to Deck Fires on Cable Supported Bridges

Cable supported bridges are typically part of community-critical infrastructure and therefore the consequences arising from extensive structural damage due to a fire and the subsequent operational discontinuity could be significant beyond the damage to the bridge itself and the cost of repairs. Bridge design standards generally do not provide guidance and hence fire resistance requirements are often informed by first principles assessments of the thermal and structural response of the structure to proposed fire scenarios. A deterministic assessment can provide a reasonable worst-case scenario but it does not allow bridge stakeholders to make informed decisions with regards to uncertainty and the low likelihood of fires occurring to identify the benefits of investments in structural fire protection. This is because the target reliability required for each bridge may be different depending on its characteristics, and the expected fire severity has a probabilistic nature. This research aims to fill this gap by undertaking a reliability-based analysis to assess the probability of structural failure by considering the probability of a fire of a given size occurring and the uncertainty in the incident location and wind. The methodology is demonstrated through the case study of an operational 450 m long cable supported bridge section and a fire scenario based on a liquid fuel tanker. Liquid tankers can result into two type of fire scenario: first, a fire being contained within the tanker; and secondly, a fire due to a pool on the deck. Both fire scenarios have been characterised and it was determined that the contained tanker scenario presents a more onerous design case owing to its more prolonged duration. A Monte Carlo analysis was undertaken for a total of 10,000 independent trials of the combination of the location of the fire and the wind direction. The frequency of the fire was also examined to establish the probability of structural failure of a cable. It was established that the inclusion of wind can sometimes reduce the estimated height at which cables may experience temperatures with the potential to cause cable failure. However, for a number of the cases, the estimated height can remain broadly similar (i.e. within a couple metres difference) to the worst-case calculated value. Based on this analysis, the influence of the required level of reliability as well the fire protection duration specification agreed with bridge stakeholders can be used to determine the height at which cable fire protection is necessary to reduce the probability of structural failure to a level acceptable to the stakeholders. This approach allows bridge designers and stakeholders to make informed decisions with regards to provision and extent of fire preventive/protective measures for cable supported bridges.

Automated summary

This study presents a reliability-based analysis to assess the probability of structural failure in cable supported bridges due to fire incidents. The analysis considers the probability of fire occurrence, uncertainty in the incident location, and wind effects. The results show that including wind can decrease the estimated height at which cables may experience temperatures that could cause failure. Based on the analysis, the necessary height for cable fire protection can be determined to reduce the probability of structural failure to an acceptable level.