The commercial operation of the bullet train in 1964 in Japan markedthe beginning of a new era for high-speed railways. Because of thehuge amount of kinetic energy carried at high speeds, a train mayinteract significantly with the bridge and even resonate with it undercertain circumstances. Equally important is the riding comfort of thetrain cars, which relates closely to the maneuverability of the trainduring its passage over the bridge at high speeds.

The commercial operation of the bullet train in 1964 in Japan marked the beginning of a new era for high-speed railways. Because of the huge amount of kinetic energy carried at high speeds, a train may interact significantly with the bridge and even resonate with it under certain circumstances. Equally important is the riding comfort of the train cars, which relates closely to the maneuverability of the train during its passage over the bridge at high speeds.This book is unique in that it is devoted entirely to the interaction between the supporting bridges and moving trains, the so-called vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI). Finite element procedures have been developed to treat interaction problems of various complexities, while the analytical solutions established for some typical problems are helpful for identifying the key parameters involved. Besides, some field tests were conducted to verify the theories established.This book provides an up-to-date coverage of research conducted on various aspects of the VBI problems. Using the series of VBI elements derived, the authors study a number of frontier problems, including the impact response of bridges with elastic bearings, the dynamic response of curved beam to moving centrifugal forces, the stability and derailment of trains moving over bridges shaken by earthquakes, the impact response of two trains crossing on a bridge, the steady-state response of trains moving over elevated bridges, and so on.

The commercial operation of the bullet train in 1964 in Japan marked the beginning of a new era for high-speed railways. Because of the huge amount of kinetic energy carried at high speeds, a train may interact significantly with the bridge and even resonate with it under certain circumstances. Equally important is the riding comfort of the train cars, which relates closely to the maneuverability of the train during its passage over the bridge at high speeds.This book is unique in that it is devoted entirely to the interaction between the supporting bridges and moving trains, the so-called vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI). Finite element procedures have been developed to treat interaction problems of various complexities, while the analytical solutions established for some typical problems are helpful for identifying the key parameters involved. Besides, some field tests were conducted to verify the theories established.This book provides an up-to-date coverage of research conducted on various aspects of the VBI problems. Using the series of VBI elements derived, the authors study a number of frontier problems, including the impact response of bridges with elastic bearings, the dynamic response of curved beam to moving centrifugal forces, the stability and derailment of trains moving over bridges shaken by earthquakes, the impact response of two trains crossing on a bridge, the steady-state response of trains moving over elevated bridges, and so on.

Vehicle-bridge interaction happens all the time on roadway bridges and this interaction performance carries much useful information. On one hand, while vehicles are traditionally viewed as loads for bridges, they can also be deemed as sensors for bridges' structural response. On the other hand, while bridges are traditionally viewed as carriers for vehicle weight, they can also be deemed as scales that can weigh the vehicle loads. Based on these observations, a broad area of studies based on the vehicle-bridge interaction have been conducted in the authors' research group. Understanding the vehicle and bridge interaction can help develop strategies for bridge condition assessment, bridge design, and bridge maintenance, as well as develop insight for new research needs.This book documents fundamental knowledge, new developments, and state-of-the-art applications related to vehicle-bridge interactions. It thus provides useful information for graduate students and researchers and therefore straddles the gap between theoretical research and practical applications.

The main objective of this book is to establish efficient numerical models within the framework of finite element method to solve the dynamic response of the Vehicle-Bridge Interaction (VBI) systems for vehicles moving with constant velocity or with acceleration. For vehicles with constant velocity, the dynamic condensation method is applied to reduce the vehicle DOFs to the VBI element. VBI element refers to bridge beam elements that are in direct contact with wheels of the vehicles traversing the bridge. A new formulation is proposed for the mass, damping, and stiffness of the VBI element considering new formulation for the contact points. For vehicles experiencing sudden deceleration with sliding, external forces resulting from vehicle horizontal deceleration are numerically formulated in a matrix form as the function of vertical contact forces. By defining a new parameter called acceleration parameter with particular characteristics, the contact force formula is reformulated. Consequently, a new formulation for the VBI element containing the effect of vehicle acceleration is developed.