This paper presents a coupled, dynamic vehicle and honeycomb composite sandwich
bridge deck interaction model. The composite sandwich deck consists of E-glass fibers
and polyester resin. Its core consists of corrugated cells in a sinusoidal configuration
along the travel direction. First, analytical predictions of the effective flexural and
transverse shear stiffness properties of the sandwich deck were obtained in the
longitudinal and transverse directions. These were based on the modeling of
equivalent properties for the face laminates and core elements. Using the first
order shear sandwich theory, the dynamic response of the sandwich deck was
analyzed under moving dynamic loads. A dynamic vehicle simulation model was
used for the latter, assuming that the deck response is the only source of
excitation (i.e., its roughness was assumed to be negligible). Subsequently,
the dynamic load factors of the sandwich bridge deck were calculated for
different traveling velocities. The results suggest that the dynamic load factors
vary with the traveling speed and increase significantly with decreasing deck
stiffness. Considering multiple degrees of freedom for the vehicle further
amplifies the dynamic loading factor and increases the vibration generated by
vehicles.
