Full scale experiments on vehicle induced transient loads on roadside plates

Every day and innumerably, road vehicles of different types pass flat roadside-placed elements like stable or temporary traffic signs, noise barriers, charge devices, etc. The elements are exposed to a vehicle-specific flow and pressure field, i.e. to transient loads. In order to quantify the involved phenomena, full-scale experiments were performed for six different vehicle types and three sizes of square plates, which were aligned in three different configurations with respect to the vehicle׳s track. For the measurement of loads effecting the plate, the pressure multi-tapping technique was implemented with high temporal and spatial resolution. The experiments delivered a broad database for the proper quantification of vehicle induced loads on flat elements as a function of vehicle type, vehicle velocity and passing distance to the plate, element size as well as spatial plate alignment with respect to the vehicle.