Effect of Vehicle Acceleration and Deceleration on the Dynamic Response of Simple Bridges

Abstract

This dissertation deals with the dynamic response of simple bridges due to a vehicle load travelling with variable velocity. The vehicle load is modelled as a point load. Two patterns of variation of velocity (acceleration and deceleration) are considered. The computer program SAP2000 was used to construct a finite element model of two simple bridges with different properties and to carry out dynamic time-history analyses to assess the maximum response of the bridges in terms of deflections and bending moment diagram envelopes. A comparison between the dynamic deflections of the accelerating and decelerating load was done. By completing a parametric study of 175 time history analyses for a family of bridges, response spectra for a vehicle accelerating and deaccelerating on a simple bridge were constructed. These spectra can be used to directly obtain the dynamic deflection of different bridges due to a vehicle travelling in a specific range of variable velocities. A comparison of the bending moment diagram envelopes between different variable velocities, and the static and dynamic bending moment diagrams were also included in the study.

Date of Award	2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton
Supervisor	Enrique Martinez-Rueda (Supervisor)