Does vehicle‐bridge interaction resemble the effect of tuned‐mass dampers on bridges during earthquakes?

In many seismic studies, the coupled vehicle‐bridge system is treated as a tuned‐mass damper (TMD)‐bridge system, and unsurprisingly, the vehicle usually reduces the seismic bridge response. The current study challenges this common belief. To this end, it investigates the influence of running vehicles on the seismic performance of bridges. Specifically, it compares the effect of vehicle‐bridge interaction (VBI) to that of a TMD on bridges subjected to earthquakes. The discussion explores the underlying physical mechanisms of VBI and TMD, and highlights the superficial similarities and the substantial differences between them. In this context, the study presents pertinent numerical simulations for a set of natural earthquake records.