A Numerical Investigation of Longitudinal Track–Bridge Interaction in Simply Supported Precast Concrete Girder Railway Bridges

Abstract

In railway tracks, additional stresses occur in rails due to interaction between the rail and the bridge superstructure, which is a phenomenon known as track–bridge interaction (TBI). The additional rail stresses (ARSs) develop primarily as a result of temperature effect, vertical bending of bridge superstructure, and braking/acceleration of trains traveling over the bridge. One of the major parameters affecting the TBI response is the behavior of interface elements simulating the coupling between the bridge superstructure and the rail. In TBI analysis this coupling is defined by the so-called longitudinal resistance-displacement curves (RDCs). The present study deals with the longitudinal aspect of TBI though a numerical investigation. The numerical modeling approach was verified with available analytical solutions and data obtained from bridge monitoring. The primary interest was to illustrate how sensitive the TBI response is to changes in RDCs with both separate and sequential analysis approaches, which has not been investigated thoroughly earlier. The parametric study was extended to investigate the effects of expansion length and substructure stiffness, in addition to RDC type. For simply supported precast girder bridges, RDCs that are experimentally proven specific to ballastless railway bridges can be used as an economic alternative to those specified by provisions.