ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT Traffic load is an essential component in the design and maintenance of bridges. Especially for those with long spans, the variability of traffic load throughout the life-cycle is too salient to be covered by simple calculation models. In this paper, two traffic load simulation methods are studied, i.e., the macro-scale method and the micro-scale method, to compare the features of load response of long-span bridges under traffic load. A simulation method at micro scale, which is developed based on stochastic traffic cellular automata, is adopted to realize the movement of vehicles. While a quite simplified method at macro scale, which is based on vehicle weight sampling, is applied to deal with the load generation. With these two methods, the mid-span displacement and mid-span moment of a cable-stayed bridge is analyzed. The statistical parameters of the load response are compared between these two methods, in a bid to analyze the feasibility of using these simulation methods in the estimation of load responses of long-span bridges.
