Numerical computation for vibration characteristics of long-span bridges with considering vehicle-wind coupling excitations based on finite element and neural network models

CA (Cellular Automaton) model was applied to the simulation of random traffic flow to develop a model considering the randomness of traffic flow and apply it to wind-vehicle-bridge coupling vibration. Finite element and neural network models were adopted respectively to numerically compute the vibration characteristics of bridges under wind and vehicle loads, verify the correctness of model. Subspace iteration method was used for the modal analysis of bridges. Natural frequencies of the top 8 orders were 0.21 Hz, 0.27 Hz, 0.36 Hz, 0.45 Hz, 0.56 Hz, 0.66 Hz, 0.87 Hz and 1.02 Hz respectively. The vibration frequency of the long-span bridge was consistent with the vibration characteristics of large-scale complex structures. Natural modes mainly reflected the torsion and bending of main beam and the swinging vibration of side and main towers. Fluctuation wind time-history presented periodic characteristics. The maximum and minimum values of fluctuation wind were about 20 m/s and –20 m/s respectively. The target and simulation values of power spectral density of wind speed were basically the same in change trend, which indicated that the fluctuation wind time-history computed in this paper was reliable. The model of dense traffic flow based on CA more truly described the running status like accelerating, decelerating and changing lanes of vehicles on the bridge, also contained the density information of vehicles and more truly reflected traffic characteristics. Vibration accelerations of the long-span bridge were symmetrically distributed. Vibration acceleration of central position in the left main span was the largest and near 50 cm/s2; vibration acceleration on the main tower was the smallest. The curve of vibration displacement with considering wind loads presented some fluctuations, while the vibration displacement of bridges without considering wind loads was very smooth. In addition, the amplitude of vibration displacement without considering wind loads moved laterally towards the left compared with that with considering wind loads. Therefore, wind loads must be considered when the vibration characteristics of the long-span bridge were computed. Otherwise, the accuracy of computational results would be reduced. It only took 0.5 hours to use neural network to predict the vibration acceleration of the long-span bridge. In the case of the same computer performance, it took 5 hours to use finite element model to predict the vibration acceleration of the long-span bridge. The advantage of neural network model in predicting the performance of large-scale complex structures like a long-span bridge could be obviously found. In the future, we will consider using neural network model to systematically study and optimize the long-span bridge