Alterable-element method for vehicle-bridge interaction considering the transient jump of wheel

The so called "alterable-element method" (AEM) was introduced to deal with the coupling interac-tion of vehicle and sub-structure considering the actual transient jump of wheel, while the classical "contact allalong" assumption based on which wheels and lower structure are always contact was abandoned. The alterableelement used in this method is a conceptional element, which is used to calculate the coupling interaction ofupper and lower structures and has some typical characteristics: firstly it flows along with the moving of contactpoint; secondly whether it is used for calculation depends on the contact state; thirdly its sizes could changeaccording to specific problems and so on. VISUAL FORTRAN program was coded, and different moving vehiclemodels were presented taking into consideration the effects of random corrugation in the numerical study. Thenumerical solutions are favored comparing with the results obtained by alternative methods when there is nojump phenomenon existed. With abrupt irregularity, the transient jump of wheel was studied using the presentmethod.