Abstract
This paper proposes a numerical prediction scheme of dynamic behavior of vehicle-bridge interaction system with the main focus on steel girder bridges. Using general software ABAQUS and MATLAB, a detailed finite element model of the bridge uner the passage of vehicles is developed, in which the de-coupled equations of motion of the vehicle-bridge system are derived and the effect of road surface roughness is included. Interaction forces between vehicle and bridge systems are calculated step by step using Newark's method. The numerical model is applied to a skew steel bridge which was monitored under in-service traffic loads. After adjusting boundary conditions of the model with the measurements' and computing the spectral roughness coefficient-the most influential but also the most uncertain parameters of the model-good agreement is obtained between the simulation results and field measurements. The study shows that using numerical simulation, not only the global response, but also the local behavior of the bridge could be investigated quantitatively. Finally the parametric analysis is carried out and capability of the proposed prediction method is confirmed.
