Abstract
M.Ing. (Civil Engineering)
Bridge design/analysis in South Africa is seldom done from the dynamic point of view, and then only
.in most exceptional cases. The topic of dynamic behavior of bridges is fairly complex and not always
well understood by the average design engineer.
Until the advent of 3-D finite element packages, dynamic design was usually done by assuming
behaviour of simplebeams and/orplatesandequating these to the real life situation. Thesevaluescan
be found in standard designbooks and tables drawnup as a result of empirical studies and analyses
done in the past The author felt that there was a need for a better understanding of the dynamic
behavior of bridges and to develop skills in finite element modelling and analysis. He therefore
undertook to investigate and study the dynamic behavior of the Bothasfontein interchange bridge.
An empirical evaluation of the composite deck was developed using Finite Element Analysis, and the
results compared with the actual behavior of the bridge. Good correlation between the model and the
measured values was obtained.