Performance of bridge structures under heavy goods vehicle impact

This paper presents a numerical study on the performance of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge structures subjected to heavy goods vehicle (HGV) collision. The objectives of this study are to investigate the dynamic response and failure modes of different types of bridges under impact loading as well as to give an insight into the simplified methods for modeling bridge structures. For this purpose, detailed finite-element models of HGV and bridges are established and verified against the full-scale collision experiment and a recent traffic accident. An intensive parametric study with the consideration of vehicle weight, vehicle velocity, structural type, simplified methods for modeling bridges is conducted; then the failure mode, impact force, deformation and internal force distribution of the validated bridge models are discussed. It is observed that the structural type has a significant effect on the force-transferring mechanism, failure mode and dynamic response of bridge structures, thus it should be considered in the anti-impact design of bridge structures. The impact force of HGV is mainly determined by the impact weight, impact velocity and contact interface, rather than the simplification of the superstructure. Furthermore, to reduce the modeling and computing cost, it is suggested to utilize the simplified bridge model considering the inertial effect of the superstructure to evaluate the structural impact behavior within a reasonable precision range.