A Novel Split-Type Two-Axle Vehicle Model for Bridge Indirect Measurement

Abstract

A split-type two-axle vehicle for bridge indirect measurement is proposed to address the deficiencies of single-axle and conventional two-axle vehicles. At first, the conceptual design of the split-type two-axle vehicle is put forth, and the analytical solution for the vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI) system response is derived. After that, the regularity of the vehicle frequency response function is studied, and the numerical analysis method is utilized to validate the analytical solution. Based on the theoretical findings, the vehicle frequency and speed are studied to investigate their impacts on extracting bridge frequencies from vehicle responses. The results indicate that a peak will form in the frequency response function (FRF) curves when the input frequency is near to the vehicle frequency. The single peak phenomenon will occur when the zero-point condition of the FRF from the contact point to the vehicle body is remarkably close to the second vibration frequency of the vehicle. It is preferable for the first frequency of the vehicle to be higher than that of the bridge since this helps to extract the bridge frequency. On the other hand, at low speeds ([Formula: see text] 43.2[Formula: see text]km/h), higher vehicle speeds will result in a greater distance between the peaks of the left- and right-shifted frequencies of the bridge, wider frequency bands, and lower spectral resolution, which is not conducive to bridge frequency identification.