DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF ARCH BRIDGES UNDER TRAVELING LOADS

A dynamic analysis of arch bridges traversed by a single moving load i s presented using a mixed approach in which the advantages of continuu m and lumped mass methods have been combined. The bridge deck is ideal ized by a fiat plate supported by struts of equal stiffness. The appli cability of the method is studied by comparing the results with those obtained by the lumped mass method. The results indicate that for a re latively stiff arch supporting a flexible deck, the proposed and the l umped mass methods show good agreement. The dynamic behaviour of the b ridge under some important parametric variations is also presented.