Assessing Absolute Maximum Vibration Amplitude of a Rectangular Plate Subjected to a Moving Mass

Abstract

Dynamic behavior of bridges under moving loads is a challenging engineering problem, which has attracted a great interest in a myriad of papers and books in structural dynamics field. In case of a slab-type bridge, a plate influenced by a traversing mass can reflect the full two-dimensional mechanical behavior of the supporting structure. This paper investigates absolute maximum response amplitude of a plate-type structure subject to a moving mass. To this end, the absolute maximum dynamic deflection of a rectangular plate under a moving mass is sought at all interior points of it, while the existing literature is restricted to capturing maximum values at the plate center point. Unlike the conventional methods that seek maximum dynamic response at the center point of the plate, extracting absolute maximum response—which does not necessarily take place at the center point—is an onerous task and computationally demanding. According to the findings of the current paper, accurate values of the plate maximum vibration amplitude significantly differ from those maximum responses obtained at the plate center point.