Dynamic response of simple bridge due to moving vehicles in both along opposite directions

Abstract

The purpose of this study is presenting the dynamic response of a simple bridge subjected to moving vehicles using finite element method. The moving vehicles move in both along opposite directions on the simple bridge at different speeds, described by two masses as car body and wheel, respectively. Based on dynamic balance principle, the governing equation of motion of the bridge-vehicle interaction is derived and solved by the Newmark method in the time domain. At the same time, the characteristic parameters of the moving vehicles such as the ratios of initial position and speed of the vehicles are proposed. And then, the influence of the above parameters on the dynamic response of the bridge-vehicle interaction is investigated in detail. The numerical results showed that those parameters affect significantly the dynamic response of the bridge-vehicle interaction. It is evidently more increasing the dynamic response of the bridge-vehicles interaction than other cases. Hence, this study can be considered as meaningful practice document in the problems of design and response analysis of the bridge due to moving traffic load.