Objectives This study aims to indirectly identify tire impact loads and their distribution characteristics through structural responses, providing a basis for deck design and safety assessment. A load inversion method based on Green's function is proposed.

Methods The study focuses on a ship deck stiffened plate. The impact load is represented as a superposition of unit impulse loads using Green's function. The Green kernel function matrix is obtained through finite element simulations. An inversion model is established by combining the Tikhonov regularization method with the generalized cross-validation criterion. For single and multiple tire impact scenarios, the influence of multi-source loads on inversion accuracy is analyzed. For three typical wheel print load distribution forms—convex, saddle, and concave—the load distribution characteristics are inverted by equivalently dividing the force application area and applying unit impulse loads.

Results The proposed method can effectively identify the time history and distribution characteristics of tire impact loads, with a relative error of less than 5%. Specifically, the inversion based on strain and displacement responses achieves higher accuracy, with errors below 2%. Even under a 5% noise interference, the inversion results remain consistent with the actual loads.

Conclusions The proposed method addresses the challenges of short impact load duration, limited structural response range, and the joint action of multi-source impact loads. It provides a new approach for identifying wheel loads on real ships and holds significant engineering application value.