Towards an efficient method of predicting vehicle-induced response of bridge

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a practical and efficient iterative method for predicting vehicle-induced response of bridge. Design/methodology/approach The vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI) problem is generalized mathematically and a computational algorithm for VBI is proposed. This method rests on an iterative procedure, which utilizes the whole interaction process for iteration. By this means, vehicle and bridge become totally uncoupled and are only linked by the contact force history. This method provides flexibility to choose simplified or refined vehicle and bridge models for the VBI problem, as well as open options for different commercial FEM software without specialized codes. Findings The method is verified through two numerical examples. The first example uses a simple 1D beam bridge model, which illustrates the procedure of this method and demonstrates its fast convergence in several iterations. The second example employs a realistic full 3D finite element bridge model, which shows that the method easily connects complex FEM bridge models in ABAQUS with a calibrated vehicle model in Matlab. The dynamic response of the bridge is reliably calculated within only a few iterations. Originality/value The proposed iterative method separates vehicle and bridge into independent subsystems in the computational process, thus providing more flexibility to utilize commercial FEM softwares. Its efficiency is realized through choosing the whole interaction force process for iteration, which considerably reduces the iteration steps.