A novel index for damage detection of deck and dynamic behavior of horizontally curved bridges under moving load

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the responses of horizontally curved bridges that are affected by vehicles load. The effect of vehicles dynamic loads on bridges is influenced by factors such as geometric characteristics of structures and moving loads specifications. To consider the effect of dynamic loads in design of bridges, static load increases with a coefficient which is called "impact factor" in Design Codes. In this paper, by examining the effect of curvature of deck and the speed of vehicles which are passing along the bridge on the dynamic response of bridge, set of new equations for DAF is presented. For this purpose, dynamic analysis is performed for seven bridges with different radius of curvature under the influence of AASHTO truck. In the case study models, it can be seen that the separation of impact factor into two different coefficients; support reaction and displacement responses make bridge design more economical and safer. Reduction of the curvature radius decreases dynamic amplification factor (both coefficients). To identify the possible damages of the examined bridges in the early stages of the advent a new index is presented. This index can predict the damages due to moving vehicles.