For dynamic responses of highway bridges to moving vehicles, most of studies focused on single-factor analysis or multifactor analysis based on full factorial design. The defect of the former one is that it has no consideration of interaction effects, while that of the latter one is that it has large calculation. To avoid these defects, simplified theoretical derivations are presented at first; then some numerical simulations based on the proposed method of the orthogonal experimental design in batches have been done by our own program VBCVA. According to simplified theoretical derivations, three factors (κ,γ, andα) are proved as the most important factors to determine dynamic responses. Based on the modal synthesis method, the program VBCVA has been introduced in detail. Then on the basis of the orthogonal experimental design, both main effects and interaction effects are studied. The results show that, for different indices of dynamic responses, the influences of each factor are not the same. Additionally, the interaction effects have proved to be so small that they can be neglected. In the end, this method provides a good way to obtain more rational empirical formulas of the DLA and other dynamic responses, which may be adopted in the revision of codes for design and evaluation.

To obtain the health status of long-span cable-stayed bridges, multiple sensors are applied to the health monitoring system for data collection. The optimal layout of sensors that aims to obtain as much structural information as possible with fewer sensors is important to ensure the effectiveness of the health monitoring system. Sensors are usually placed in typical locations where the structural response is obvious, and most studies utilize static response for the determination of sensor location. In fact, bridges primarily suffer the dynamic load, of which the response has a significant impact on the structural health. In this article, an optimal sensor layout method for a long-span cable-stayed bridge based on dynamic response is proposed under the consideration of vehicle–bridge coupled vibration. With vehicle load applied onto different lanes, the dynamic responses of different bridge members are obtained, and the number and the location of cable force sensors are determined according to the distribution of cable dynamic coefficient DC, and the number and the location of displacement and strain sensors are determined according to the distribution of DGD and DGM, which are the dynamic load allowance for girder deflection and bending moment, respectively. The results prove that this method can reduce the number of sensors effectively and obtain bridge state information more perfectly.

To address the drawback of traditional method of investigating dynamic responses of the continuous girder bridge with uniform cross-section under moving vehicular loads, the orthogonal experimental design method is proposed in this paper. Firstly, some empirical formulas of natural frequencies are obtained by theoretical derivation and numerical simulation. The effects of different parameters on dynamic responses of the vehicle-bridge coupled vibration system are discussed using our own program. Finally, the orthogonal experimental design method is proposed for the dynamic responses analysis. The results show that the effects of factors on dynamic responses are dependent on both the selected position and the type of the responses. In addition, the interaction effects between different factors cannot be ignored. To efficiently reduce experimental runs, the conventional orthogonal design is divided into two phases. It has been proved that the proposed method of the orthogonal experimental design greatly reduces calculation cost, and it is efficient and rational enough to study multifactor problems. Furthermore, it provides a good way to obtain more rational empirical formulas of the DLA and other dynamic responses, which may be adopted in the codes of design and evaluation.

To study the damage of bridge pile foundations caused by scouring, two damage mechanisms of scouring are proposed in this paper. Considering the vehicle-bridge coupled vibration in terms of two aspects of the scouring depth and erosion depth, the vertical and transversal dynamic characteristics and dynamic responses of the bridge are studied under different cases for the most sensitive vehicle speed. The dynamic characteristics include the 1st and 2nd vibration modes of the vertical and transversal directions of the bridge. The dynamic responses include the vertical and transversal dynamic load allowances and acceleration of the bridge. The souring depth is more sensitive than the erosion depth, and the 2nd vertical mode is most substantially influenced by scouring and erosion. Because of the small value of the natural frequency of the vertical vibration modes, the transversal vibration modes may be more convenient to obtain. The study of the dynamic responses shows that the scouring depth can be represented by the dynamic load allowance in the middle of the span’s section and the erosion depth can be characterized by the dynamic load allowance at the quarter location of the span’s section.

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