Dynamic Response Impact of Vehicle Braking on Simply Supported Beam Bridges with Corrugated Steel Webs Based on Vehicle-Bridge Coupled Vibration Analysis

A novel approach for analyzing coupled vibrations between vehicles and bridges is presented,taking into account spatiotemporal effects and mechanical phenomena resulting fromvehicle braking.Efficient modeling and solution of bridge vibrations induced by vehicle deceleration are realized using this method.The method’s validity and reliability are substantiated through numerical examples.A simply supported beam bridge with a corrugated steel web is taken as an example and the effects of parameters such as the initial vehicle speed,braking acceleration,braking location,and road surface roughness on the mid-span displacement and impact factor of the bridge are analyzed.The results show that vehicle braking significantly amplifies mid-span displacement and impact factor responses in comparison to uniform vehicular motion across the bridge.Notably,the influence of wheelto-bridge friction forces is of particular significance and cannot be overlooked.When the vehicle initiates braking near the middle of the span,both the mid-span displacement and impact factor of the bridge exhibit substantial increases,further escalating with higher braking acceleration.Under favorable road surface conditions,the midspan displacement and the impact factor during vehicle braking may exceed the design values stipulated by codes.It is important to note that road surface roughness exerts a more pronounced effect on the impact factor of the bridge in comparison to the effects of vehicle braking.

Experimental Geotechnical Characterization Campaign of the Matam Soil for Lithology: Application to the Study of Supports of the Balterdi Bridge

This paper presents a geotechnical study whose objective is to determine the lithology of the soil of Balterdi village (Matam, Senegal). A bridge-type structure with six supports is to be built on the studied site. The drilling program consisted of six core drillings (SC) each 30 m deep with sampling and six destructive drillings with pressuremeter tests (SP) every 1.5 m up to 30 m deep. A pair of core and pressuremeter tests was carried out under each support. From the results of the core drill holes and the geological model of the site, it can be seen that the lithology of the soil along the structure consists essentially of soft clay layers, becoming firm at depth over the first 18 m on average (with some incursions of sandy layers) resting on medium to compacted sand up to 30 m. Brown clayey fill is also present between piers P3 and P5. The presence of a watercourse along the structure is noted. The foundations will therefore be carried out in the water. The results of the pressuremeter tests confirm the homogeneity of the soil over the whole area. Indeed, the values obtained are almost similar for all the tests. According to the limit pressures obtained, the clayey-sandy formations encountered along the structure are respectively soft to firm and moderately compact to compact. Their limit pressures are high enough to allow good bearing capacities.

UHPFRC Cast-in-Situ Over-Lay of Bridge Abutments

Use of UHPFRC(ultra high performance fiber reinforced concrete)cast-in-situ over-lays for repairs and strengthening of bridge decks is already quite a widely used technology,while use of this method for strengthening of bridge supports is still much less often.This paper describes the first use of this technology for bridge abutments in the Czech Republic,and if we know well,also the first use of such a ribbed over-lay internationally.

Damage Identification in Simply Supported Bridge Based on Rotational-Angle Influence Lines Method

To locate and quantify local damage in a simply supported bridge, in this study, we derived a rotational-angle influence line equation of a simply supported beam model with local damage. Using the diagram multiplication method, we introduce an analytical formula for a novel damage-identification indicator, namely the diff erence of rotational-angle influence linescurvature(DRAIL-C). If the initial stiff ness of the simply supported beam is known, the analytical formula can be effectively used to determine the extent of damage under certain circumstances. We determined the effectiveness and anti-noise performance of this new damage-identification method using numerical examples of a simply supported beam, a simply supported hollow-slab bridge, and a simply supported truss bridge. The results show that the DRAIL-C is directly proportional to the moving concentrated load and inversely proportional to the distance between the bridge support and the concentrated load and the distance between the damaged truss girder and the angle measuring points. The DRAIL-C indicator is more sensitive to the damage in a steel-truss-bridge bottom chord than it is to the other elements.

Effect of temperature difference load of 32 m simply supported box beam bridge on track vertical irregularity

In order to study the effect of temperature difference load （TDL） along the vertical direction of a simply supported beam bridge section on the vertical irregularity, a rail-bridge-piers calculation model was established. Taking 32 m simply supported box beam bridge which is widely used in the construction of pas- senger dedicated line in China as an example, influences of the temperature variation between the bottom and top of the bridge, temperature curve index, type of temperature gradient, and beam height on track vertical irregularity were analyzed with the model. The results show that TDL has more effects on long wave track irregularity than on short one, and the wavelength mainly affected is approxi- mately equal to the beam span. The amplitude of irregu- larity caused by TDL is largely affected by the temperature variation, temperature curve index, and type of temperature gradient, so it is necessary to monitor the temperaturedistribution of bridges in different regions to provide accurate calculation parameters. In order to avoid the irregularity exceeding the limit values, the height of 32, 48, and 64 m simply supported box beam bridges must not be less than 2.15, 3.2, and 4.05 m, respectively.

Wind tunnel measurement of aerodynamic characteristics of trains passing each other on a simply supported box girder bridge

The aerodynamic performance of high-speed trains passing each other was investigated on a simply supported box girder bridge,with a span of 32 m,under crosswinds.The bridge and train models,modeled at a geometric scale ratio of 1:30,were used to test the aerodynamic forces of the train,with the help of a designed moving test rig in the XNJD-3 wind tunnel.The effects of wind speed,train speed,and yaw angle on the aerodynamic coefficients of the train were analyzed.The static and moving model tests were compared to demonstrate how the movement of the train influences its aerodynamic characteristics.The results show that the sheltering effect introduced by trains passing each other can cause a sudden change in force on the leeward train,which is further influenced by the wind and running speeds.Detailed analyses related to the effect of wind and train speeds on the aerodynamic coefficients were conducted.The relationship between the change in aerodynamic coefficients and yaw angle was finally described by a series of proposed fitting formulas.

Seismic analysis of high-speed railway irregular bridge–track system considering V-shaped canyon effect

To explore the effect of canyon topography on the seismic response of railway irregular bridge-track system that crosses a V-shaped canyon, seismic ground motions of the horizontal site and V-shaped canyon site were simulated through theoretical analysis with 12 earthquake records selected from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center(PEER) Strong Ground Motion Database matching the site condition of the bridge.Nonlinear seismic response analyses of an existing 11-span irregular simply supported railway bridge-track system were performed under the simulated spatially varying ground motions. The effects of the V-shaped canyon topography on the peak ground acceleration at bridge foundations and seismic responses of the bridge-track system were analyzed. Comparisons between the results of horizontal and V-shaped canyon sites show that the top relative displacement between adjacent piers at the junction of the incident side and the back side of the V-shaped site is almost two times that of the horizontal site, which also determines the seismic response of the fastener. The maximum displacement of the fastener occurs in the V-shaped canyon site and is 1.4 times larger than that in the horizontal site. Neglecting the effect of V-shaped canyon leads to the inappropriate assessment of the maximum seismic response of the irregular high-speed railway bridge-track system. Moreover, engineers should focus on the girder end to the left or right of the two fasteners within the distance of track seismic damage.

Damage Detection for Simply Supported Bridge with Bending Fuzzy Stiffness Consideration

The benchmark of a simply supported beam with damage and bending fuzzy stiffness consideration is established to be utilized for damage detection. The explicit expression describing the Rotational Angle Influence Lines(RAIL) of the arbitrary section in the benchmark is presented as the nonlinear relation between the moving load and the RAIL appeared, when the moving load is located on the damage area. The damage detection method is derived based on the Difference of the RAIL Curvature(DRAIL-C) prior to and following arbitrarily section damage in a simply supported beam with bending fuzzy stiffness consideration. The results demonstrate that the damage position can be located by the DRAIL-C graph and the damage extent can be calculated by the DRAIL-C curve peak. The simply supported box girder as a one-dimensional model and the simply supported truss bridge as a three-dimensional model with the bending fuzzy stiffness are simulated for the validity of the proposed method to be verified. The measuring point position and noise intensity effects are discussed in the simply supported box girder example. This paper provides a new consideration and technique for the damage detection of a simply supported bridge with bending fuzzy stiffness consideration.

Field study on performance of new technique of geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported embankment at bridge approach

Vehicle bumps at a bridge approach caused by the differential settlement between a bridge and an adjacent backfill embankment are one of the most difficult problems in geotechnical engineering. Large vehicle bumps make drivers uncomfortable and cause large impact loads on vehicles and the bridge abutment. A new ground-improvement technique called fixed-geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported embankment(FGT embankment) was developed and used to alleviate vehicle bumps at a trial bridge-approach site located in central China. To distribute the differential settlement between the bridge and adjacent backfill embankment over a long transition zone, the following three techniques were used at the trial bridge-approach site:(a) the FGT embankment,(b) conventional geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported embankment(CT embankment), and(c) geosynthetic-reinforced embankment without piles(GR embankment). The performance of all three techniques in the field trial was investigated by field measurements involving earth pressure cells, geosynthetic deformation sensors, and settlement gauges. The FGT and CT embankments exhibited better performance than the GR embankment. Compared with the CT embankment, the FGT embankment was more effective at ground improvement. At an elevation of 4.0 m from the base of the embankment, the pressures below the geosynthetic were smaller than those above the geosynthetic at the closest measurement point. The difference between the pressures between above and below the geosynthetic tended to increase with the embankment height.

Probability-based practice-oriented seismic behaviour assessment of simply supported RC bridges considering the variation and correlation in pier performance

Probability-based seismic performance assessment of in-service bridges has gained much attention in the scientific community during the past decades. The nonlinear static pushover analysis is critical for describing the seismic behaviour of bridges subjected to moderate to high seismicity due to its simplicity. However, in existing analysis methods,the generation of pushover curve needs tremendous amount of computational costs and requires skills, which may halter its application in practice, implying the importance of developing practice-oriented analysis method with improved efficiency. Moreover, the bridge pier performance has been modelled as deterministic, indicating that the variation associated with the pier material and mechanical properties remains unaddressed. The correlation in the performance of different piers also exists due to the common design provisions and construction conditions but has neither been taken into account. This paper develops a simplified pushover analysis procedure for the seismic assessment of simply supported RC bridges. With the proposed method, the pushover curve of the bridge can be obtained explicitly without complex finite element modelling. A random factor is introduced to reflect the uncertainty in relation to the pushover curve. The correlation in the pier performance is considered by employing the Gaussian copula function to construct the joint probability distribution. Illustrative examples are presented to demonstrate theapplicability of the method and to investigate the impact of variation and correlation in bridge pier behaviour on the seismic performance assessment.

Percutaneous placement of an IABP in the left axillary/subclavian position provides safe,ambulatory long-term support as bridge to heart transplantation

Objectives We evaluated the feasibility, tolerability, and efficacy of a strategy for percutaneous pump （IABP） placement through the left axillary-subelavian artery to provide mechanical in patients with end-stage heart failure as a bridge to heart transplantation. intra-aortic balloon circulatory support