On the transverse free vibrations of beam-slab type highway bridges

Abstract Analysis of vibration problems dealing with plate eigenfunctions and transcendental equations involves rather tedious trial and error solutions to trigonometric and hyperbolic functions. A modified approach based on the orthotropic plate theory for computing the natural frequencies of bridge slabs is presented through a set of empirical relationships between the plate parameters. A general outline of the analytical procedure and computed values of natural frequencies of vibration of such slabs for a wide range of parameters are given. Whenever possible, results from the present investigation are compared with those obtained by other methods; good agreements are obtained.