An interpretive method for moving force identification

Dynamic load data have been Valuable for bridge and pavement design. Traditional ways to acquire truck axle and gross weight information are expensive and subject to bias, and this has led to the development of Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) techniques. Most of the existing WIM systems have been developed to measure only the static axle loads. This paper aims to introduce a method to identify moving dynamic loads on bridges using the bridge responses caused by such loads. A closed-form solution can be obtained to identify moving constant loads, while numerical methods must be used to identify the time-varying moving loads. The set of equations that leads to the solution is based on Euler's equation of beams. A two-axle vehicle model is developed to generate the theoretical responses and the corresponding interactive moving forces. Studies were carried out to check whether the proposed method could recover the original interactive moving forces and the method was found to be feasible. (C) 1999 Academic Press.