Structural performance of deck arch timber highway bridge

The bridge (Suginoki bridge) subjected in this study is deck arch timber highway bridge constructed in Japan in 1997. To investigate the terms on design factors and safety, structural rigidity, environmental vibration problems and initial data for maintenance, the static and dynamic field tests of the bridge were done in July 1999. The structural characteristics and performances on static and dynamic behaviors were investigated in the terms such as deflection, response vibration, natural frequency, vibration mode, damping coefficient, impact factor, vibration sense of pedestrians for serviceability, moving stability of vehicles and so on. Furthermore, three-dimensional static and dynamic structural analyses of the bridge were also done using FEM. This study investigates the structural characteristics and performances based on the field tests and analyses, and give a valuable data to evaluate structural rigidity and design factors for modern timber highway bridges.