Ride comfort of the bridge-traffic-wind coupled system considering bridge surface deterioration

Abstract

In the present study, a new methodology is presented to study the ride comfort and bridge responses of a long-span bridge-traffic-wind coupled vibration system considering stochastic characteristics of traffic flow and bridge surface progressive deterioration. A three-dimensional vehicle model with 24 degrees-of-freedoms (DOFs) including a three-dimensional non-linear suspension seat model and the longitudinal vibration of the vehicle is firstly presented to study the ride comfort. An improved cellular automaton (CA) model considering the influence of the next-nearest neighbor vehicles and a progressive deterioration model for bridge surface roughness are firstly introduced. Based on the equivalent dynamic vehicle model approach, the bridge-traffic-wind coupled equations are established by combining the equations of motion of both the bridge and vehicles in traffic using the displacement relationship and interaction force relationship at the patch contact. The numerical simulations show that the proposed method can simulate rationally the ride comfort and bridge responses of the bridge-traffic-wind coupled system; and the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal vibrations of the driver seat model can affect significantly the driver\'s comfort, as expected.