An investigation of vibration of horizontally curved bridge in highway feeder ramps

The objective of this study is to provide an insight into the dynamic behavior of feeder ramp curved bridges under (1) the vibrations generated from trucks running idle; and (2) time-dependent action of a sudden-stop of a moving. The study considered a variety of feeder ramp bridges with various span lengths and horizontal curvature angles.; The static and dynamic analysis of the example bridges considered in this study show that the angle of curvature of the bridge has a great effect on various response quantities. As the curvature increases, the bridge develops significantly higher values of in-plane bending moment and out-of-plane bending moment.; In dynamic analysis of the bridge under a sudden stop of truck, the speed of the truck has a great effect on the dynamic response in addition to the effect of bridge length and curvature. This effect is demonstrated through the dependency of the dynamic response factor on the ratio of ramp-force rise time to the fundamental period of the bridge, tr/ Tn. The fundamental period of vibration of the bridge itself is affected by the curvature and the length of the bridge.; The study showed that under the load from a truck running idle, the generated deflection and internal forces were small. However, this effect may still be of an important consideration when bridge design concerns serviceability due to crack formulation and growth in concrete decks.