Simulating the Effects of Surface Roughness on Reinforced Concrete T Beam Bridge under Single and Multiple Vehicles

Abstract

This research focuses on the application of the spatial system of finite element modeling for the vehicle-bridge interaction on reinforced concrete US Girder Bridge in order to obtain the effect of surface roughness. Single vehicle and multiple vehicles on reinforced concrete T beam bridge were studied with variable surface roughness profiles. The effects of six different surface roughness profiles (very good, good, measured, average, poor, and very poor) were investigated for vehicle-bridge interaction. The values of the Dynamic Amplification Factor (DAF) were obtained for single and multiple vehicles on T Beam Bridge for different surface roughness profiles, along with the distances between the axles of heavy vehicle. It was observed that when the bridge has very good, good, measured, and average surface roughness, the DAF values for the single vehicle over the bridge were observed to be within acceptable limits specified by AASHTO. However, for the bridge with multiple vehicles only very good and measured surface roughness profiles showed a DAF and vehicle axle distances within the acceptable limits. From the current studies, it was observed that the spatial system showed reliable responses for predicting the behavior of the bridge under variable road surface roughness conditions and was reliable in vehicle axle detection, and therefore, it has a potential to be use for realistic simulations.