Effect of Expansion Joints on Long-Span Bridges on Driving Behavior: A Driving Simulator Study

For some long-span bridges, the width of the expansion joint is larger than the circumference of truck tire. Because of the different friction coefficients between the expansion joint and road surface, vehicles often slip at the expansion joint, which would threaten driving safety. To address this problem, a model of a typical long-span bridge is established under three different weather conditions, i.e., sunny, rainy, and snowy, and a series of experiments are conducted based on a high fidelity driving simulator. It is found that the expansion joint of the long-span bridge does have certain influences on driving behavior. With the reduction of the road friction coefficient and the increase of the width of expansion joints, this influence poses an increasing threat to traffic safety. These findings also suggest that drivers tend to be more cautious and their driving behavior would become more conservative in bad weather conditions.