The influence of deck flexibility on the dynamic response of road bridges

A simplified methodology is proposed for the dynamic analysis of curved road bridges under the effect of a 3C class heavy vehicle. The dynamic models of both vehicle and bridge are considered to be uncoupled, being bound by the interaction forces. These forces come from the vehicle dynamic analysis, initially under rigid deck, subjected to a support excitation caused by the pavement geometric irregularities. Such forces are statically condensed in the vehicle centre of mass and applied to a simplified structural model (‘unifilar’) of a curved bridge with box girder section, considering the bridge super elevation. The influence of the rigid deck hypothesis on the dynamic response is assessed by an iterative procedure, in which the deck displacements are added to the pavement irregularities, to obtain an “equivalent irregularity” function. The new interaction forces are re-applied to the bridge model to determine new displacements, repeating the procedure until the results converge.