A COUPLED HONEYCOMB COMPOSITE SANDWICH BRIDGE-VEHICLE INTERACTION MODEL

This paper presents a coupled, dynamic vehicle and honeycomb composite sandwich bridge deck interaction model. The composite sandwich deck consists of E-glass fibers and polyester resin. Its core consists of corrugated cells in a sinusoidal configuration along the travel direction. First, analytical predictions of the effective flexural and transverse shear stiffness properties of the sandwich deck were obtained in the longitudinal and transverse directions. These were based on the modeling of equivalent properties for the face laminates and core elements. Using the first order shear sandwich theory, the dynamic response of the sandwich deck was analyzed under moving dynamic loads. A dynamic vehicle simulation model was used for the latter, assuming that the deck response is the only source of excitation (i.e., its roughness was assumed to be negligible). Subsequently, the dynamic load factors of the sandwich bridge deck were calculated for different traveling velocities. The results suggest that the dynamic load factors vary with the traveling speed and increase significantly with decreasing deck stiffness. Considering multiple degrees of freedom for the vehicle further amplifies the dynamic loading factor and increases the vibration generated by vehicles.