• Wind and Structures
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.145-167
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• 2014

Wind-vehicle-bridge (WVB) interaction can be regarded as a coupled vibration system. Aerodynamic forces and moment on vehicles and bridge decks play an important role in the vibration analysis of the coupled WVB system. High-speed vehicle motion has certain effects on the aerodynamic characteristics of a vehicle-bridge system under crosswinds, but it is not taken into account in most previous studies. In this study, a new testing system with a moving vehicle model was developed to directly measure the aerodynamic forces and moment on the vehicle and bridge deck when the vehicle model moved on the bridge deck under crosswinds in a large wind tunnel. The testing system, with a total length of 18.0 m, consisted of three main parts: vehicle-bridge model system, motion system and signal measuring system. The wind speed, vehicle speed, test objects and relative position of the vehicle to the bridge deck could be easily altered for different test cases. The aerodynamic forces and moment on the moving vehicle and bridge deck were measured utilizing the new testing system. The effects of the vehicle speed, wind yaw angle, rail track position and vehicle type on the aerodynamic characteristics of the vehicle and bridge deck were investigated. In addition, a data processing method was proposed according to the characteristics of the dynamic testing signals to determine the variations of aerodynamic forces and moment on the moving vehicle and bridge deck. Three-car and single-car models were employed as the moving rail vehicle model and road vehicle model, respectively. The results indicate that the drag and lift coefficients of the vehicle tend to increase with the increase of the vehicle speed and the decrease of the resultant wind yaw angle and that the vehicle speed has more significant effect on the aerodynamic coefficients of the single-car model than on those of the three-car model. This study also reveals that the aerodynamic coefficients of the vehicle and bridge deck are strongly influenced by the rail track positions, while the aerodynamic coefficients of the bridge deck are insensitive to the vehicle speed or resultant wind yaw angle.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2003

This paper presents the formulation of a new bridge-vehicle system with validation using the field data. Both pitching and twisting modes of the vehicle are considered in the contribution of the dynamic effects in the bridge responses. A heavy vehicle was hired as a control vehicle with known axle weight, axle spacing and spring coefficients. The measured responses were generated from the control vehicle running at a particular speed at a test span at Ma Tau Wai Flyover. The measured responses were acquired using strain gauges installed beneath the girder beams of the test bridge. The simulated responses were generated using BRVEAN that is a self-developed program based on the proposed bridge-vehicle system. The validation shows that the bridge model is valid for representing the test bridge and the governing equations are valid for representing the motion of moving vehicles.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.393-402
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• 2020

Long-span bridges with high flexibility and low structural damping are very susceptible to the vortex-induced vibration (VIV), which causes extremely negative impacts on the ride comfort of vehicles running on the bridges. To assess the ride comfort of vehicles running on the long-span bridges subjected to VIV, a coupled wind-vehicle-bridge system applicable to the VIV case is firstly developed in this paper. In this system, the equations of motion of the vehicles and the bridge subjected to VIV are established and coupled through the vehicle-bridge interaction. Based on the dynamic responses of the vehicles obtained by solving the coupled system, the ride comfort of the vehicles can be evaluated using the method given in ISO 2631-1. At last, the proposed framework is applied to several case studies, where a long-span suspension bridge and two types of vehicles are taken into account. The effects of vehicle speed, vehicle type, road roughness and vehicle number on the ride comfort are investigated.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.315-331
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• 2014

The present study investigated the effect of the correlation of the measured road roughness profiles corresponding to the left and right wheels of a vehicle on the vibration of a vehicle-bridge coupling system. Four sets of road roughness profiles were measured by a laser road-testing vehicle. A correlation analysis was carried out on the four roughness samples, and two samples with the strongest correlation and weakest correlation were selected for the power spectral density, autocorrelation and cross-correlation analyses. The scenario of a three-axle truck moving across a rigid-frame arch bridge was used as an example. The two selected road roughness profiles were used as inputs to the vehicle-bridge coupling system. Three different input modes were adopted in the numerical analysis: (1) using the measured road roughness profile of the left wheel for the input of both wheels in the numerical simulation; (2) using the measured road roughness profile of the right wheel for both wheels; and (3) using the measured road roughness profiles corresponding to left and right wheels for the input corresponding to the vehicle's left and right wheels, respectively. The influence of the three input modes on the vibration of the vehicle-bridge system was analyzed and compared in detail. The results show that the correlation of the road roughness profiles corresponding to left and right wheels and the selected roughness input mode both have a significant influence on the vibration of the vehicle-bridge coupling system.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.191-211
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• 2015

Several frameworks for the dynamic analysis of wind-vehicle-bridge systems were presented in the past decade to study the safety or ride comfort of road vehicles as they pass through bridges under crosswinds. The wind loads on the vehicles were generally formed based on the aerodynamic parameters of the stationary vehicles on the ground, and the wind loads for the pure bridge decks without the effects of road vehicles. And very few studies were carried out to explore the dynamic effects of the aerodynamic interference between road vehicles and bridge decks, particularly for the moving road vehicles. In this study, the aerodynamic parameters for both the moving road vehicle and the deck considering the mutually-affected aerodynamic effects are formulized firstly. And the corresponding wind loads on the road vehicle-bridge system are obtained. Then a refined analytical framework of the WVB system incorporating the resultant wind loads, a driver model, and the road roughness in plane to fully consider the lateral motion of the road vehicle under crosswinds is proposed. It is shown that obvious lateral and yaw motions of the road vehicle occur. For the selected single road vehicle passing a long span bridge, slight effects are caused by the aerodynamic interference between the moving vehicle and deck on the dynamic responses of the system.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.169-185
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• 2012

The concrete bridge is likely to produce fatigue cracks during long period of service due to the moving vehicular loads and the degeneration of materials. This paper deals with the time-frequency analysis of a coupled bridge-vehicle system. The bridge is modeled as an Euler beam with breathing cracks. The vehicle is represented by a two-axle vehicle model. The equation of motion of the coupled bridge-vehicle system is established using the finite element method, and the Newmark direct integration method is adopted to calculate the dynamic responses of the system. The effect of breathing cracks on the dynamic responses of the bridge is investigated. The time-frequency characteristics of the responses are analyzed using both the Hilbert-Huang transform and wavelet transform. The results of time-frequency analysis indicate that complicated non-linear and non-stationary features will appear due to the breathing effect of the cracks.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.405-430
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• 2017

The aerodynamic characteristics of vehicles are critical to assess vehicle safety and passenger comfort for vehicles running on long span bridges in a windy environment. However, in previous wind-vehicle-bridge (WVB) system analysis, the aerodynamic interference between the vehicle and the bridge was seldom considered, which will result in changing aerodynamic coefficients. In this study, the aerodynamic coefficients of a high-sided truck on the ground (ground case) and a typical bridge deck (bridge deck case) are determined in a wind tunnel. The effects of existent structures including the bridge deck and bridge accessories on the high-sided vehicle's aerodynamic characteristics are investigated. A three-dimensional analytical framework of a fully coupled WVB system is then established based on the finite element method. By inputting the aerodynamic coefficients of both cases into the WVB system separately, the vehicle safety and passenger comfort are assessed, and the critical accidental wind speed for the truck on the bridge in a windy environment is derived. The differences in the bridge response between the windward case and the leeward case are also compared. The results show that the bridge deck and the accessories play a positive role in ensuring vehicle safety and improving passenger comfort, and the influence of aerodynamic interference on the response of the bridge is weak.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.9 no.5 s.36
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• pp.561-568
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• 2006

Dynamic equations of motion for the interaction system of bridge and vehicle are derived to investigate the dynamic responses of bridge and vehicles induced by moving automated guide-way transit(AGT) vehicle and surface roughness of bridge. The vehicle model for ACT vehicle is idealized as 11 DOF including yawing, lateral translation and steering of wheels, and the bridges are modeled with finite element method. The AGT vehicle model was verified by experimental study. Parametric studies are carried out to investigate the effect of vehicle speed, surface roughness, stiffness and damping of the suspension system, AGT vehicles and dynamic wheel loads of the AGT vehicles. From the parametric study it can be seen that the dynamic incremental factor of the bridge and dynamic responses of vehicles have a tendency to increase with vehicle speeds, surface roughness and the stiffness of AGT vehicle suspension system. On the other hand those dynamic wheel loads have tendencies to decrease in according to increase of damping of the suspension system.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.75-90
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• 2013

In order to identify damage of highway bridges rapidly, a method for damage identification using dynamic response of bridge induced by moving vehicle and static test data is proposed. To locate damage of the structure, displacement energy damage index defined from the energy of the displacement response time history is adopted as the indicator. The displacement response time histories of bridge structure are obtained from simulation of vehicle-bridge coupled vibration analysis. The vehicle model is considered as a four-degree-of-freedom system, and the vibration equations of the vehicle model are deduced based on the D'Alembert principle. Finite element method is used to discretize bridge and finite element model is set up. According to the condition of displacement and force compatibility between vehicle and bridge, the vibration equations of the vehicle and bridge models are coupled. A Newmark-${\beta}$ algorithm based professional procedure VBAP is developed in MATLAB, and used to analyze the vehicle-bridge system coupled vibration. After damage is located by employing the displacement energy damage index, the damage extent is estimated through the least-square-method based model updating using static test data. At last, taking one simply supported bridge as an illustrative example, some damage scenarios are identified using the proposed damage identification methodology. The results indicate that the proposed method is efficient for damage localization and damage extent estimation.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.177-184
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• 1998

The equation of motion on the vehicle-bridge system is established as the simultaneous equations which are combined the equation of vehicle and bridge by the interaction elements. A vehicle element is modeled as lumped masses supported by springs and dashpots, and a bridge element with pavement roughness is modeled as beam elements. An interaction element is defined to consist of a bridge element and the suspension units of the vehicle resting on the element. By the dynamic condensation method, the degrees of the freedom are eliminated, and compared with all the degrees of freedom on the bridge, the efforts of calculation is decreased. Thus, although a very small computational error is occured, the present technique appears to be computationally more efficient. It is particularly suitable for the simulation of bridges with a series of vehicles moving on the deck.