Analysis of a bridge approach: long-term behaviour from short-term response
Analysis of a bridge approach: long-term behaviour from short-term response
Transition zones are locations where trackbed support conditions change abruptly, for example from an earth embankment onto a bridge. The track geometry at these sites degrades faster than regular railway track, requiring more frequent and costlier maintenance. To improve understanding of the underlying causes and improve maintenance and design methods, numerical studies are often carried out, although it is computationally expensive and generally not feasible to mimic a sufficient number of loading cycles to represent reality. This paper explores an approach to predicting the long term performance of a bridge approach based on a short term simulation. Three novel performance indicators are suggested, based on existing empirical settlement equations. The dynamic response of a real ballasted railway bridge transition was studied using a Finite Element (FE) model, and the effects of train speed, sub-base soil and under sleeper pads (USPs) were investigated. Results show that both the train speed and the sub-base material affect transition performance. In accordance with previous studies, a stiffer, wedge-shaped backfill was found to mitigate the adverse effects of the support stiffness variation at the bridge approach under idealised conditions. Adding USPs appeared to have a relatively minimal influence on track long term performance.
finite element method (FEM), railway track, transition zone, railway bridge, under sleeper pad (USP), Train speed, Track settlement, Hanging sleeper, Ballasted track, performance indicators
1-15
Ognibene, Giacomo
f52e5891-ed17-43dd-8998-cc3290e1ee11
Powrie, William
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Le Pen, Louis
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Harkness, John
026f02e8-41d9-403f-83be-0d880058ecf1
Ognibene, Giacomo
f52e5891-ed17-43dd-8998-cc3290e1ee11
Powrie, William
600c3f02-00f8-4486-ae4b-b4fc8ec77c3c
Le Pen, Louis
4a38e256-d113-4bba-b0d4-32d41995928a
Harkness, John
026f02e8-41d9-403f-83be-0d880058ecf1
Ognibene, Giacomo, Powrie, William, Le Pen, Louis and Harkness, John
(2019)
Analysis of a bridge approach: long-term behaviour from short-term response.
In 15th Railway Engineering Conference, Edinburgh, U.K.
.
(In Press)
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Transition zones are locations where trackbed support conditions change abruptly, for example from an earth embankment onto a bridge. The track geometry at these sites degrades faster than regular railway track, requiring more frequent and costlier maintenance. To improve understanding of the underlying causes and improve maintenance and design methods, numerical studies are often carried out, although it is computationally expensive and generally not feasible to mimic a sufficient number of loading cycles to represent reality. This paper explores an approach to predicting the long term performance of a bridge approach based on a short term simulation. Three novel performance indicators are suggested, based on existing empirical settlement equations. The dynamic response of a real ballasted railway bridge transition was studied using a Finite Element (FE) model, and the effects of train speed, sub-base soil and under sleeper pads (USPs) were investigated. Results show that both the train speed and the sub-base material affect transition performance. In accordance with previous studies, a stiffer, wedge-shaped backfill was found to mitigate the adverse effects of the support stiffness variation at the bridge approach under idealised conditions. Adding USPs appeared to have a relatively minimal influence on track long term performance.
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- Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 3 July 2019
Keywords:
finite element method (FEM), railway track, transition zone, railway bridge, under sleeper pad (USP), Train speed, Track settlement, Hanging sleeper, Ballasted track, performance indicators
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Local EPrints ID: 432681
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/432681
PURE UUID: f4bf8d3f-dc48-42fd-b446-d7c9c8a8369d
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Date deposited: 24 Jul 2019 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:40
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Author:
Giacomo Ognibene
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