• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.131-140
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• 2022

Installing Continuous Welded Rail (CWR) is one of the economical ways to resolve the challenges of noise, vibration, and the open-deck steel railway bridge impact, and the SSF method using the interlocking sleeper fastener has recently been developed. In this study, the method employed for determining the optimum vertical stiffness of the sleeper pad installed under the bridge sleeper, which is utilized to adjust the rail height and absorb shock when the train passes when the interlocking sleeper fastener is applied, is presented. To determine the optimal vertical stiffness of the sleeper pad, related existing design codes are reviewed, and, running safety, ride comfort, track safety, and bridge vibration according to the change in the vertical stiffness of the sleeper pad are estimated via flexible multi-body dynamic analysis,. The flexible multi-body dynamic analysis is performed using commercial programs ABAQUS and VI-Rail. The numerical analysis is conducted using the bridge model for a 30m-long plate girder bridge, and the response is calculated when passing ITX Saemaeul and KTX vehicles and freight wagon when the vertical stiffness of the sleeper pad is altered from 7.5 kN/mm to 240 kN/mm. The optimum stiffness of the sleeper pad is calculated as 200 kN/mm under the conditions of the track components applied to the numerical analysis.