Behaviors, Mechanisms, and Diagnosis of Vessel-Impacting Concrete Bridges: Advances, Challenges, and Future Directions

The surge in vessel collisions with bridges, driven by the expanding global maritime economy, has led to catastrophic outcomes, highlighting the need for effective protection and control of vessel–bridge collisions (PCVBC) in waterway transportation and bridge engineering. Key technical aspects of PCVBC include collision prevention, behavior, mechanism, and diagnosis. Among them, behavior, mechanism, diagnosis — a progressive process — are the core scientific issues of PCVBC research. As collisions increasingly overwhelm existing preventive facilities, advancing collision diagnosis technologies has become crucial. Additionally, studying vessel–bridge collisions within concurrent multi-hazard scenarios is emerging as a significant research hotspot. Overall, research on PCVBC is fragmented, with uneven depths in technical exploration and unclear challenges. This study aims to thoroughly investigate current PCVBC technologies and offer a forward-looking perspective on future advancements. It first examines the mechanical behavior of vessel–bridge collisions through three representative research methods: impact tests, numerical simulations, and equivalent analyses, evaluating their features, applicability, advantages, and limitations. Second, it explores how different collision scenarios affect impact forces and bridge damage patterns. Third, regarding diagnosis, it reviews the current state of research on vessel–bridge collision alarms and bridge damage assessment, highlighting the weaknesses in existing diagnostic technologies. Fourth, recent progress in analyzing vessel collisions in conjunction with other hazards is discussed. Finally, future challenges in PCVBC are identified, including collision monitoring, multi-physical analysis, multi-hazard coupling, and artificial intelligence applications, with insights and recommendations for enhancing bridge resilience.