Impact stiffness of the contact-element models for the pounding analysis of highway bridges: Experimental evaluation

For the requirement of pounding analysis of highway bridges, how to properly choose the impact stiffness has become a primary issue for an achieving accurate result. This article presents an evaluation test of the impact stiffness of four types of contact-element models based on the shaking table test results of a steel highway bridge model. The analytical results indicate that the theoretical impact parameters are significantly larger than the identified values because the assumptions for deriving those models cannot match the actual impact conditions. The possible reasons causing those differences are discussed at the end of this study.