Running safety assessment of trains considering post-earthquake damage state of bridge-track system

A bridge-track system (BTS) is inevitably damaged during an earthquake; this is reflected in its stiffness deterioration and residual deformation, which affect the post-earthquake running safety of trains. The influence of the post-earthquake damage state of an actual BTS on train running safety remains unclear. Hence, this study mainly discussed the influence of post-earthquake bridge-track damage state and residual deformation on running safety and established a safe speed limit for trains under different seismic intensities. A finite element (FE) model of a simply supported railway BTS was established using the OpenSees software. A nonlinear seismic response analysis was performed under different ground motion intensities (0.1, 0.3, and 0.6 g for frequent, design, and rare earthquakes, respectively), and bridge damage, fastener damage, and residual deformation of the rail after the earthquakes were studied. An OpenSees-TRBF (train-rail-bridge-foundation coupled system dynamic analysis software, TRBF) co-simulation method was developed to analyze the running safety of trains after earthquakes under a damaged state of the BTS based on the TCP/IP communication interaction technology. A safe speed limit for trains considering the post-earthquake damage state and residual deformation was proposed, providing a reference for the post-earthquake capacity of trains. The results of the BTS seismic damage analysis showed that the residual displacement of the bearing was the fundamental reason for the change in the rail line shape, and fastener damage mainly occurred in the range of 2-4 fasteners at the end of the girder under the design and rare earthquakes. The results of the running safety analysis showed that, if damage to the BTS is ignored, the running safety after an earthquake will be misjudged. Based on the continuous overrun time limit index, the running safety indices for ground motion intensities of 0-0.4, 0.4-0.5, and 0.5-0.6 g could meet the speed requirements of 350, 300, and 150 km/h, respectively. This study provides some references and suggestions for the running safety of trains following an earthquake.