Dynamic Impact Factor Induced by Idling Vehicle-Bridge Coupling Vibration

To analyze the impact effect induced by vehicle-bridge coupling vibration during traffic congesting, hundreds and thousands of congestion scenarios consisting of various vehicle platoons were collected and used to develop vehicle models as well as traffic congestion load models. Furthermore, the idling vehicle-bridge coupling model was established by the finite element method and the congestion models were applied to calculate dynamic impact factors. Compared with the value specified in Chinese codes, the calculated values were 1.15-2.67 times as large as the latter, which indicates the impact factors caused by idling vehicle-bridge coupling under congestion situations were much larger than those in normal traffic conditions. As a result, a calibration factor of 1.7 was recommended for bridge design or evaluation when considering vehicle-bridge coupling vibration under heavy traffic congestion. The proposed analytical model, analysis method, and results could also be beneficial references to further investigation in this field.