• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.683-701
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• 2016

Safety is the prime concern for a high-speed railway bridge, especially when it is subjected to a collision. In this paper, an analysis framework for the dynamic responses of train-bridge systems under collision load is established. A multi-body dynamics model is employed to represent the moving vehicle, the modal decomposition method is adopted to describe the bridge structure, and the time history of a collision load is used as the external load on the train-bridge system. A (180+216+180) m continuous steel trussed-arch bridge is considered as an illustrative case study. With the vessel collision acting on the pier, the displacements and accelerations at the pier-top and the mid-span of the bridge are calculated when a CRH2 high-speed train running through the bridge, and the influence of bridge vibration on the running safety indices of the train, including derailment factors, offload factors and lateral wheel/rail forces, are analyzed. The results demonstrate that under the vessel collision load, the dynamic responses of the bridge are greatly enlarged, threatening the running safety of high-speed train on the bridge, which is affected by both the collision intensity and the train speed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.67 no.1
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• pp.9-20
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• 2018

In this paper, a framework is proposed for dynamic analysis of train-bridge systems with a damaged pier after barge collision. In simulating the barge-pier collision, the concrete pier is considered to be nonlinear-inelastic, and the barge-bow is modeled as elastic-plastic. The changes of dynamic properties and deformation of the damaged pier, and the additional unevenness of the track induced by the change of deck profile, are analyzed. The dynamic analysis model for train-bridge coupling system with a damaged pier is established. Based on the framework, an illustrative case study is carried out with a $5{\times}32m$ simply-supported PC box-girder bridge and the ICE3 high-speed train, to investigate the dynamic response of the bridge with a damaged pier after barge collision and its influence on the running safety of high-speed train. The results show that after collision by the barge, the vibration properties of the pier and the deck profile of bridge are changed, forming an additional unevenness of the track, by which the dynamic responses of the bridge and the car-body accelerations of the train are increased, and the running safety of high-speed train is affected.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.549-559
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• 2018

The dynamic behaviors of the bridge structures have great effects on the comfortability and safety of running high-speed trains, which can also reflect the structural degradation. This paper aims to reveal the characteristics of the dynamic behaviors induced by train loadings for a combined highway and railway bridge. Monitoring-based analysis of the acceleration and dynamic displacement of the bridge girder is carried out. The effects of train loadings on the vertical acceleration of the bridge girder are analyzed; the spatial variability of the train-induced lateral girder displacement is studied; and statistical analysis has been performed for the daily extreme values of the train-induced girder deflections. It is revealed that there are great time and spatial variabilities for the acceleration induced by train loadings for the combined highway and railway cable-stayed bridge. The daily extreme values of the train-induced girder deflections can be well fitted by the general extreme value distribution.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.585-599
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• 2023

Field monitoring techniques offer an attractive approach for understanding bridge behavior under in-service loads. However, the investigations on bridge behavior under high-speed train load using field monitoring data are limited. The focus of this study is to explore the structural behavior of an in-service long-span steel truss arch bridge based on field monitoring data. First, the natural frequencies of the structure, as well as the train driving frequencies, are extracted. Then, the train-induced bearing displacement and structural strain are explored to identify the effects of train loads and bearings. Subsequently, a sensitivity analysis is performed for the impact factor of strain responses with respect to the train speed, train weight, and temperature to identify the fundamental issues affecting these responses. Additionally, a similar sensitivity analysis is conducted for the peak acceleration. The results indicate that the friction force in bearings provides residual deformations when two consecutive trains are in opposite directions. In addition, the impact factor and peak acceleration are primarily affected by train speed, particularly near train speeds that result in the resonance of the bridge response. The results can provide additional insight into the behavior of the long-span steel truss bridges under in-service high-speed train loads.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.869-890
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• 2014

In this study, a damage detection approach using train-induced vibration response of the bridge is proposed, utilizing only direct structural analysis by means of introducing soft computing methods. In this approach, the possible damage patterns of the bridge are assumed according to theoretical and empirical considerations at first. Then, the running train-induced dynamic response of the bridge under a certain damage pattern is calculated employing a developed train-bridge interaction analysis program. When the calculated result is most identical to the recorded response, this damage pattern will be the solution. However, owing to the huge number of possible damage patterns, it is extremely time-consuming to calculate the bridge responses of all the cases and thus difficult to identify the exact solution quickly. Therefore, the soft computing methods are introduced to quickly solve the problem in this approach. The basic concept and process of the proposed approach are presented in this paper, and its feasibility is numerically investigated using two different train models and a simple girder bridge model.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.197-205
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• 2017

The dynamic performance of railway bridges under high-speed trains draws the attention of bridge engineers. The vibration issue for long-span bridges under high-speed trains is still not well understood due to lack of validations through structural health monitoring (SHM) data. This paper investigates the correlation between bridge acceleration and train speed based on structural dynamics theory and SHM system from three foci. Firstly, the calculated formula of acceleration response under a series of moving load is deduced for the situation that train length is near the length of the bridge span, the correlation between train speed and acceleration amplitude is analyzed. Secondly, the correlation scatterplots of the speed-acceleration is presented and discussed based on the transverse and vertical acceleration response data of Dashengguan Yangtze River Bridge SHM system. Thirdly, the warning indexes of the bridge performance for correlation scatterplots of speed-acceleration are established. The main conclusions are: (1) The resonance between trains and the bridge is unlikely to happen for long-span bridge, but a multimodal correlation curve between train speed and acceleration amplitude exists after the resonance speed; (2) Based on SHM data, multimodal correlation scatterplots of speed-acceleration exist and they have similar trends with the calculated formula; (3) An envelope line of polylines can be used as early warning indicators of the changes of bridge performance due to the changes of slope of envelope line and peak speed of amplitude. This work also gives several suggestions which lay a foundation for the better design, maintenance and long-term monitoring of a long-span high-speed bridge.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.399-416
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• 2018

In order to reveal the independent relationship between track irregularity and wind loads, the stochastic characteristics of train-bridge coupling systems subjected to wind loads were investigated by the multi-sample calculation. The vehicle was selected as 23 degrees of freedom dynamical model, and the bridge was described by three-dimensional finite element model. It was assumed that the wind loads were random processes with strong spatial correlation, while the track irregularities were stationary random ones. As a case study, a high-speed train running on a cable-stayed bridge subjected to wind loads was studied. The effect of rail irregularities was deemed to be independent of the effect of wind excitations on the coupling system in the same wind circumstance for the same project, leading to the conclusion that the effect of wind loads and moving vehicle could be calculated separately. The variance results of the stochastic responses of vehicle-bridge coupling system under the action of wind loads and rail irregularities together were equivalent to the sum of the variance of the responses induced by each excitation. Therefore, when one of the input excitations is different, only the effect of changed loads needs to be assessed. Moreover, the new calculated results were combined with the effect of unchanged loads to present the stochastic response of coupling system subjected to the different excitations, reducing the cost of computations. The stochastic characteristics, the CFD (cumulative distribution function) of the coupling system with different wind velocities, vehicle speed, and vehicle marshalling were studied likewise.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.283-300
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• 2011

A new conception of fundamental tasks in dynamics of the bridge-track-train systems (BTT), with the aim to evaluate moving load's models adequacy, has been developed. The 2D physical models of BTT systems, corresponding to the fundamental tasks, have been worked out taking into account one-way constraints between the moving unsprung masses and the track. A method for deriving the implicit equations of motion, governing vibrations of BTT systems' models, as well as algorithms for numerical integration of these equations, leading to the solutions of high accuracy and relatively short times of simulations, have been also developed. The derived equations and formulated algorithms constitute the basis for numerical simulation of vibrations of the considered systems.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.669-675
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• 2018

Under braking forces of a freight train, there are great longitudinal structural responses of a large freight railway cable-stayed bridge. To alleviate such adverse reactions, viscous dampers are required, whose parametric selection is one of important and arduous researches. Based on the longitudinal dynamics vehicle model, responses of a cable-stayed bridge are investigated under various cases. It shows that there is a notable effect of initial braking speeds and locations of a freight train on the structural responses. Under the most unfavorable braking condition, the parameter sensitivity analyses of viscous dampers are systematically performed. Meanwhile, a mixing method called BPNN-NSGA-II, combining the Back Propagation neural network (BPNN) and Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm With Elitist Strategy (NSGA-II), is employed to optimize parameters of viscous dampers. The result shows that: 1. the relationships between the parameters of viscous dampers and the key longitudinal responses of the bridge are high nonlinear, which are completely different from each other; 2. the longitudinal displacement of the bridge main girder significantly decreases by the optimized viscous dampers.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.549-562
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• 2017

The US railroad network carries 40% of the nation's total freight. Railroad bridges are the most critical part of the network infrastructure and, therefore, must be properly maintained for the operational safety. Railroad managers inspect bridges by measuring displacements under train crossing events to assess their structural condition and prioritize bridge management and safety decisions accordingly. The displacement of a railroad bridge under train crossings is one parameter of interest to railroad bridge owners, as it quantifies a bridge's ability to perform safely and addresses its serviceability. Railroad bridges with poor track conditions will have amplified displacements under heavy loads due to impacts between the wheels and rail joints. Under these circumstances, vehicle-track-bridge interactions could cause excessive bridge displacements, and hence, unsafe train crossings. If displacements during train crossings could be measured objectively, owners could repair or replace less safe bridges first. However, data on bridge displacements is difficult to collect in the field as a fixed point of reference is required for measurement. Accelerations can be used to estimate dynamic displacements, but to date, the pseudo-static displacements cannot be measured using reference-free sensors. This study proposes a method to estimate total transverse displacements of a railroad bridge under live train loads using acceleration and tilt data at the top of the exterior pile bent of a standard timber trestle, where train derailment due to excessive lateral movement is the main concern. Researchers used real bridge transverse displacement data under train traffic from varying bridge serviceability levels. This study explores the design of a new bridge deck-pier experimental model that simulates the vibrations of railroad bridges under traffic using a shake table for the input of train crossing data collected from the field into a laboratory model of a standard timber railroad pile bent. Reference-free sensors measured both the inclination angle and accelerations of the pile cap. Various readings are used to estimate the total displacements of the bridge using data filtering. The estimated displacements are then compared to the true responses of the model measured with displacement sensors. An average peak error of 10% and a root mean square error average of 5% resulted, concluding that this method can cost-effectively measure the total displacement of railroad bridges without a fixed reference.