ABSTRACT
It is important to develop a clear understanding of the dynamic interaction between multi-axle heavy vehicles and road bridges for design and evaluation. The typical 7-axle, double articulated heavy vehicle is unique to South Africa and is one of the most common vehicles on South African roads. Yet, no attempts have been made to develop a model to study the dynamic interactions. This contribution addresses this problem by proposing a simplified vehicle-bridge interaction model to determine the real dynamic effects of 7-axle vehicles on South African bridges. The vehicle-bridge interaction model is developed based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, the modal superposition method and the Newmark-β direct integration technique.
