Dynamic response of certain types of highway bridges to moving vehicles

Vibrations of a bridge resulting from the passage of live loads across the span is an important consideration in design, because a vehicle moving across a bridge at a normal speed produces greater stresses than a vehicle that remains in a static position on the structure.; Several research studies have been published on the dynamic response of a single span beam model of the bridge traversed by a vehicle modeled as sprung and unsprung masses. Response of isotropic and orthotropic rectangular plate models under moving vehicle loads has also been studied by many researchers. The beam analytical models are able to represent the behaviour of some types of bridges but are not adequate for the study of the dynamic response of skew slab bridges and skew slab-on-girder bridges. A major component of the present study is the dynamic response analysis of these special types of bridges, on which only a limited research work exists.; In the present work, a skew slab bridge is represented by a finite element plate model and a skew slab-on-girder bridge is discretized by both plate elements and beam elements. The vehicle is represented by a single axle sprung mass. Analytical studies are carried out on the interaction between the bridge and the vehicle model. Governing parameters are identified and the effect of these parameters on the response is studied with a view to developing design recommendations.; As in the skew bridge, a limited number of published studies exist on the response of multispan continuous and cantilever bridges. Further work is carried out on such bridges in the present study. The bridge is modeled by a 2D beam or a beam frame structure, and the vehicle by a single axle sprung mass. Governing parameters are identified and systematic parametric studies are carried out.