A low computational cost method for vibration analysis of rectangular plates subjected to moving sprung masses

A low computational cost semi-analytical method is developed, based on eigenfunction expansion, to study the vibration of rectangular plates subjected to a series of moving sprung masses, representing a bridge deck under multiple vehicle or train moving loads. The dynamic effects of the suspension system are taken into account by using flexible connections between the moving masses and the base structure. The accuracy of the proposed method in predicting the dynamic response of a rectangular plate subjected to a series of moving sprung masses is demonstrated compared to the conventional rigid moving mass models. It is shown that the proposed method can considerably improve the computational efficiency of the conventional methods by eliminating a large number of time-varying components in the coupled Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) matrices. The dynamic behaviour of the system is then investigated by performing a comprehensive parametric study on the Dynamic Amplification Factor (DAF) of the moving loads using different design parameters. The results indicate that ignoring the flexibility of the suspension system in both moving force and moving mass models may lead to substantially underestimated DAF predictions and therefore unsafe design solutions. This highlights the significance of taking into account the stiffness of the suspension system for accurate estimation of the plate maximum dynamic response in practical applications.