Journal of Coupled Systems and Multiscale Dynamics Research Article Copyright © 2016 by American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America doi:10.1166/jcsmd.2016.1111 J. Coupled Syst. Multiscale Dyn. Vol. 4(4)/2330-152X/2016/001/016 Analysis of Responses of Highway Bridges to Wheel Loading and Drop Impacts: Finite Element Studies K. Senthil ∗ , R. A. Khan, G. J. Chauhan, D. K. Meena, and D. Singal Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Jalandhar, Jalandhar 144011, India (Received: 6 November 2016. Accepted: 27 December 2016) ABSTRACT Three dimensional numerical investigations has been carried out to understand the stability of the highway bridges using the finite element methodology. The bridge elements such as concrete slabs, cross girders, as well as truss members are analyzed and modelled against different loading and drop impact conditions. A damage plasticity model and Johnson-Cook model has been used to predict the constitutive and fracture behaviors of concrete, reinforcement rebars, girders and trusses. Furthermore, the impact responses of slabs and girders have been studied by analyzing the drop just above the girder and the center of the slab or between two girders. Results have been presented in terms of such main mechanical characteristics as deflections and von-Mises stresses. Based on the obtained results, conclusions on stability of the analyzed two-lane bridges have been derived and several recommendations have been developed. Keywords: Highway Bridges, Drop Impact, Deflection, Von-Mises Stresses, Impact Mechanics, Finite Element Method. Section: 1. INTRODUCTION A highway provides the most important mode of public transport in all over world. The highway network of India is world second largest and it has grown from 4 lack km in 1951 to more than 33 lack km. This is the most com- monly used and cost effective long distance transport sys- tem of the country. The bridges may be classified by how the forces of compression, tension, bending, shear and tor- sion are distributed on the structure and most bridges will employ all of the principal forces to some degree how- ever a few will predominate. The bridges may be classified according to type of super structure, material of construc- tion of super structure, inter span relationship, position of the bridge floor relative to superstructures, method of ∗ Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Emails: urssenthil85@yahoo.co.in, urssenthil85@gmail.com connection of different part of superstructures, length of bridge and function, see Table I. Among the bridges, truss bridges with concrete deck are a type of bridge design that uses multiple triangles to support very heavy loads and it is widely used and, most common with road traffic bridges due to their heavy load carrying capacity, see Figure 1. The bridges are subsidiary part of the transportation sys- tem and it generally affected due to dynamic and impact loading. The reasons for failure of bridges are mostly fail- ure of concrete slab, heavy impact coming on the deck and bridge members etc. and deck slab may be affected by stripping of cover of the reinforcement. The assessment of impact loading is utmost importance as it is cause of failure of the structure in most cases are discussed below. Aguirre et al. 1 studied dynamic behaviour of the steel– concrete composite deck of cable-stayed bridges. It was observed that high accelerations were found mainly when http://www.aspbs.com/jcsmd 1