Abstract
The seismometer network has been enhanced along the expressways since the 1995 Kobe earthquake. However, recent studies on earthquake damage have revealed that expressway structures are not seriously damaged under the current regulation level of seismic excitation. Hence, we may think of relaxing the regulation of the expressway closure. Before doing this, we need to examine the effects of shaking to automobiles on expressways since the drivers may encounter difficulty in controlling their cars and trucks, and traffic accidents may occur. In this study, a vehicle model with six degrees-of-freedom was made and its responses were obtained under several seismic motions and the effects of seismic motion to the dynamic response of the vehicle model were analyzed.
