Induced vibration of bridges traversed by moving vehicles

An investigation into the dynamic performance of a suspension bridge carryi ng a moving vehicle has been carried out. The vehicle is considered here as a "half-car" model traveling at a constant speed. It has been also assumed that the bridge obeys the Euler- Bernoulli beam theory of vibration with g eneral boundary conditions. However, the computer simulation model presente d here is only for the case of a beam with freely hinged end conditions. Re sults obtained from the numerical solutions of the governing differential e quations indicate a close agreement, for an extreme case, with that reporte d in the literature. Furthermore, the effect of vehicle speed on the maximu m dynamic deflection of the bridge is of much interest to bridge designers, and hence, an estimation of the critical speed of the moving vehicle is pr esented.