Recent developments in inverse problems of vehicle-bridge interaction dynamics

This paper presents an overview on inverse problems in vehicle-bridge interaction dynamics. Dynamic interaction force exists between a vehicle and a bridge deck when the vehicle moves on top. A thorough understanding of this moving load problem is crucial for the design of bridge and its condition assessment as well as control of overweight vehicle. The identification of moving load is a typical inverse problem with many approaches developed for a solution in recent years. These approaches can be categorized into those based on the analytical model and those formulated with a finite element model with a focus on the solution technique. Structural parameter identification with the moving load as excitation is another kind of inverse problem in the vehicle-bridge dynamics. The moving vehicle is a moving excitation on the bridge structure, and the bridge and/or the vehicle responses can be taken to identify the parameters of the structure as part of the structural condition assessment. These two topics will be reviewed with typical examples and experimental studies to illustrate their performances and limitations, and to highlight future directions in these research areas.