Dynamic Response of Railway Bridges under Heavy-Haul Freight Trains

In the freight railway bridge, the increase of the train running speed and train axle loads can enlarge dynamic response (DR) of the railway bridges, which leads to excessive vibration of bridges and endangers the structural safety. In this paper, a three-dimensional coupled finite element (FE) model of a heavy-haul freight train-track-bridge (HHFTTB) is established using multibody dynamics theory and FE method, and the DR for the coupled system of HHFTTB are solved by ABAQUS/Explicit dynamic analysis method. The field-measured data for a 32 m simply supported prestressed concrete beam of a heavy-haul railway in China are analyzed, and the validity of the FE model is verified. Finally, the effects of train formation number, train running speed, and train axle loads on DR of the heavy-haul railway bridge structures are studied. The results show that increasing the train formation number only has an influence on DR duration of the bridge structure, rather than the peak value of DR, when the train formation number exceeds a certain number; besides, the train axle loads and train running speed have significant influence on DR of the bridge structure. The results of this study can be used as reference for the design of heavy-haul railway bridges and the reinforcement transformation of existing railway bridges.