EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF HIGHWAY BRIDGES

The objective of this investigation was to establish the basic response characteristics for common types of highway bridges under the passage of ordinary vehicular traffic. The response characteristics under consideration were the maximum values of displacement, velocity, acceleration, and jerk together with the frequency content and damping ratio. Sixty-two bridges of all types of construction with one through four spans were instrumented with a deflection gage and a varying number of accelerometers. More than 2200 vehicle crossings were recorded with the major portion being heavy trucks. The results of the investigation indicate that the level of acceleration experienced by most bridges falls below the values which would be psychologically disturbing to pedestrians. The results also indicate that the fundamental torsional mode contributes as much or sometimes more to the total bridge motion as does the fundamental bending mode. An algorithm is also presented which will permit the integration of acceleration in order to find velocity and/or displacement. Also a technique to differentiate the displacement or acceleration in order to find the corresponding velocity or jerk is presented. /Author/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This report was sponsored by the Indiana State Highway Commission and prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Research Study titled "Bridge Vibration Studies."
• Corporate Authors:

  Purdue University/Indiana Department of Transportation JHRP

  Purdue University, School of Civil Engineering
  West Lafayette, IN  United States  47907-1284
• Authors:
  • Kropp, P K
• Publication Date: 1977-3-23

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 99 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Acceleration (Mechanics); Damping (Physics); Dislocation (Geology); Dynamic loads; Highway bridges; Jerk control; Pedestrians; Torsion; Traffic flow; Velocity
• Uncontrolled Terms: Dynamic response
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00168386
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Federal Highway Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: JHRP-77-5 Intrm Rpt.
• Contract Numbers: HPR-1(14) Part II
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Feb 16 1978 12:00AM