Multi-mode traffic-induced vibrations in composite ladder-deck bridges under heavy moving vehicles

• A Vehicle–Bridge Interaction model including platforms, transition slabs, and bridge joints.
• In ladder-deck bridges, response is dominated by high-order slab vibrational modes.
• The slab thickness is the best way to limit accelerations in this bridge type.
• The most unfavourable location of heavy vehicles in dynamic analysis is identified.
• Design criteria for ladder-deck bridges are provided.

Composite (steel-concrete) ladder-decks represent one of the most common solutions in road bridges nowadays. In these structures the Serviceability Limit State (SLS) of vibrations is traditionally ignored or roughly addressed by means of simple static deflection-based approaches, inherently assuming that the vibrations are controlled by the fundamental longitudinal mode. This work demonstrates that a wide range of high-order vibrational modes, involving the transverse flexure of the slab between longitudinal girders, govern the accelerations recorded in the deck and inside the vehicles. In addition, a new methodology for analysing the Vehicle–Bridge Interaction is proposed, including the approaching platforms, the transition slabs, and the bridge joints. The results suggest that the riding comfort for vehicle users is specially affected by direct effects on the wheels, like the road roughness and possible construction misalignments at the bridge joints, as well as low-frequency vibrations coming from the deck in short or slender bridges. The filtering effects resulting from the average of the response in time and in space when calculating the root mean square acceleration are also explored, and new design parameters are provided. In addition, several structural features (such as the depth and spacing of the longitudinal and transverse steel beams, the thickness of the concrete slab, and the stiffness of the cantilever cross beams at the diaphragm sections) have been studied, and a set of new design criteria has been established. It has been demonstrated that the transverse flexibility of the deck (specially influenced by the support conditions and the slab thickness) is critically important for the users’ (pedestrians and vehicle passengers) comfort, as it controls the aforementioned high-order vibrational modes which govern the dynamic response.