Chapter 8 A Framework for Developing Efficient Vehicle-Bridge Interaction Models Within a Commercial Finite Element Software Omar R. Abuodeh and Laura Redmond Abstract The development of vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI) models is a popular technique to characterize the dynamic properties of vehicles and bridges. However, there is inherent complexity in the development of VBI models which must account for multibody dynamics of vehicles, structural dynamics of bridges, and vehicle-bridge contact relationships. Within the literature, three distinct frameworks exist for handling the model complexity of VBI: (1) hard coding the equations of motion of the vehicles and bridges while numerically coupling them in an arbitrary programming language; (2) developing a co-simulation that leverages a commercial finite element (FE) software to model the bridge and separately solve for the equations of motion of a vehicle; or (3) develop high-fidelity representations of both the bridge and vehicle through a commercial FE environment alone. While these unique frameworks offer accurate and reliable results, there exists a tradeoff between frameworks that require sophisticated coding of the user but result in high computational speed (1 and 2) and frameworks with simple implementation but longer computation times (3). The present study attempts to bridge this gap and formulate a computationally efficient framework for implementing VBI modeling into a commercial FE software (Abaqus). This requires minimal coding by the user and could then be used by both the industrial and the research community. A VBI model of a passenger vehicle traveling across a bridge is modeled using the bicycle model concept and Euler beam element formulations within Abaqus. Robust node-to-surface contact algorithms within Abaqus are implemented to couple the vehicle to the bridge during the analysis. The dynamic responses of both the vehicle and bridge are verified with data from the literature. The study primarily follows a 2D scheme but concludes with a discussion of how these methods can be extended to a 3D scheme. Keywords Vehicle-bridge interaction · Commercial finite element · Model verification · Abaqus 8.1 Introduction Traditional techniques for inspecting damage in bridges rely on subjective assessments that lack resolution and often lead to inconsistent observations [1]. This motivated the research community to migrate toward other methods of quantifying structural damage such as examining changes in its modal/dynamic properties [2]. One recent health monitoring method, known as drive-by health monitoring (DBHM), involves using vehicle-mounted accelerometers to monitor bridge vibration through the acceleration readings taken from the vehicle [3, 4]. Afterward, the measured signals can be analyzed via physics-based [2, 5] or data-driven machine learning techniques [6]. In physics-based approaches, measured signals are often compared to the signals produced by a program-automated finite element (FE) model of the bridge-vehicle system that iteratively simulates different damage scenarios on a bridge, and then a machine learning (ML) algorithm is used to quantify the most likely location and severity of the damage in the bridge [1, 2, 5]. The FE models often consist of a moving sprung mass (i.e., vehicle body) on multiple 1D beam elements where a vehicle-bridge interaction (VBI) system is required to couple the vibration of these two bodies. Within the literature, three distinct frameworks exist for handling the model complexity of VBI: (1) hard coding the equations of motion of the vehicles and bridges while numerically coupling them in an arbitrary programming language [1, 2, 6–9]; (2) developing a co-simulation that leverages a commercial finite element (FE) software to model the bridge and separately solve for the equations of motion of a vehicle [10–12]; or (3) develop highO. R. Abuodeh ( ) · L. Redmond Glenn Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA e-mail: oabuode@g.clemson.edu © The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc. 2023 H. Y. Noh (eds.), Dynamics of Civil Structures, Volume 2, Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05449-5_8 67
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