Investigating anti-vibration performance of a novel three-tube submerged floating tunnel reinforced with FRP rigid truss

Submerged floating tunnel (SFT) is an innovative transport structure across straits, large rivers, and waterways. However, due to the large flexibility and low damping for the mooring system of SFT, it is prone to violent vibration in complex marine environments and therefore, becomes difficult to meet the traffic requirements. In order to improve the anti-vibration performance of SFT, a novel SFT concept is proposed to meet the requirements of practical engineering. The proposed SFT consists of three tube bodies and a mooring system including Fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) rigid truss. In this study, a physical scale segment model of SFT is designed and studied. The anti-vibration performance of the proposed SFT is compared with that of conventional SFTs under wave and flow coupling in the wave-flow flume. In addition, the effects of the rigid truss shape, material, and installation form on the anti-vibration performance of the proposed SFT are also investigated. The results show that the present SFT has excellent anti-vibration performance than conventional SFTs. This research study has important engineering implications for the vibration resistance of SFT located in complex marine environments.