Unified approach to predict the dynamic performance of transportation system considering wind effects

Natural hazards, including the wind hazard and others, threaten the integrity of the modern society. A transportation system usually consists of roadways, bridges and related vehicles. Harsh environmental conditions, caused by such as wind, exist in the real world frequently and affect the dynamic performance of the transportation system through their interactions. Long-span bridges are usually the backbones of transportation lines. In windy conditions, the information about the dynamic performance of bridges and vehicles considering full interactions of environmental factors is very essential for people to assess the overall operational conditions and safety risks of the transportation lines. Most of existent approaches target specifically at several isolated tasks considering partial interaction effects. In order to improve the understanding of these related-in-nature problems integrally as well as the consistency of different approaches, a unified approach to integrally predict the dynamic performance of long-span bridges and vehicles under wind is introduced. Such an approach can be used as a general platform to predict the dynamic responses of vehicles and bridges under various situations through adopting both commercial and in-house software. Dynamic interaction effects can be fully considered automatically for each situation. An example of a prototype bridge in US is given for the purpose of demonstration.