Fully computerized approach to study cable-stayed bridge-vehicle interaction

This paper presents a fully computerized approach for assembling equations of motion of any types of coupled vehicle-bridge systems. Heavy road vehicles are idealized as a combination of a number of rigid bodies connected by a series of springs and dampers while the bridge is modelled using the conventional finite element method. The mass matrix, stiffness matrix, damping matrix, and force vector of coupled vehicle-bridge systems are automatically assembled using the fully computerized approach and taking into account road surface roughness. The required input data about vehicles to the computer program are only the dynamic properties and the positions of rigid bodies, springs, and dampers, and constraint conditions. The derived equations of motion of the coupled vehicle-bridge system are then solved by the direct integration method. A case study of a real long span cable-stayed bridge with a group of moving heavy vehicles demonstrates that the fully computerized approach and the associated computer program provide an efficient and convenient tool for studying the interaction problems of large complicated bridges with various types of running vehicles.