Comparison of Bridge Dynamic Amplifications due to Articulated 5-Axle Trucks and Large Cranes

Abstract

Abstract. Extremely heavy vehicles are becoming more common on European highways due to the increasing demand for transport of heavy goods. These vehicles require permits from the road authorities to travel over a specified route. The authorities must ensure the bridge infrastructure remains safe when traversed by these very heavy vehicles and an escort is typically used to reduce loading in long-span bridges. In the case of short-and medium-span bridges, the closely spaced axle's forces of cranes form a critical traffic load configuration that must be carefully assessed before granting a permit. In this paper, the parameters of a 3-D vehicle-bridge interaction model are simulated using Monte Carlo technique to find the dynamic increment in the bridge response due to large cranes. A number of bridge spans, simply supported and fixed, and road conditions (with and without a damaged expansion joint) are tested and the bridge response is compared to conventional 5-axle trucks.

A bridge-monitoring tool based on bridge and vehicle accelerations

“…The vehicle equations are formulated following recommendations by Cantero et al (2010). Table 2 provides the parameters of the vehicle (Cantero et al 2011, ElMadany 1988. A typical highway speed of 25 m/s is employed unless otherwise specified.…”

Identification of damping in a bridge using a moving instrumented vehicle

“…The dynamic interaction between the vehicle and the bridge is implemented in Matlab using an iterative procedure described by Cantero et al [40]. The equations of motion for the vehicle travelling over a road profile (ignoring the bridge) are solved using the Wilson-Theta integration scheme [41,42].…”

“…To address this, simulations are carried out which incorporate a 0.02 m deep pothole in the road profile, corresponding to a deteriorated expansion joint. This pothole is modelled as a bump of a total width of 0.3 m, as described by Cantero et al [40]: a 0.1 m length of gradual decrease down to 0.02 m, a constant depression of 0.02 m for another 0.1 m and then, 0.1 m of an incremental increase in height until reaching the road level. It is located 0.5 m from the midpoint of the support bearing at the bridge entrance.…”

The Virtual Axle concept for detection of localised damage using Bridge Weigh-in-Motion data

“…It is important to note that the model solution considers the assumption that all the vehicle wheels remain in contact with the track throughout the simulation. Further details on the particularities of the models, the iterative solution and vehicle properties can be found in [11].…”