Intelligent Simulation Method of Bridge Traffic Flow Load Combining Machine Vision and Weigh-in-Motion Monitoring

Random traffic flow load (TFL) simulation is an important analysis method for bridge design and safety assessment, and accurate TFL modelling is a prerequisite for high-quality simulation. The existing TFL modelling methods almost all rely on the load data monitored by the weigh-in-motion system (WIM system). However, the WIM system has natural defects such as unsatisfactory measurement accuracy at low speed and the inability to measure vehicle lengths and transverse positions in the lane, limiting the improvement of TFL simulation accuracy. Regarding this, a TFL monitoring system that integrates the functions of machine vision and WIM system is developed in this paper. In this system, a deep learning method is applied, for the accurate detection of vehicles and wheels in the video, and the extraction of key parameters for TFL modelling based on detection results. According to the long-term monitoring value, statistical distributions of key parameters are determined, and then an intelligent TFL model is derived from the Intelligent Driver Model (IDM), considering the car-following behavior of vehicles. Correspondingly, this paper further suggests a TFL simulation method and achieves an accurate TFL simulation. A cable-stayed bridge is taken as an example to verify the feasibility of the method. The results show that, compared to the modelling and simulation methods that only rely on the WIM system, the proposed method not only reduces the measurement error of vehicle dimensions by nearly 4 times, but also performs higher resolution in time measurement. The proposed method effectively overcomes the shortcomings of existing schemes and has good application potential in engineering.