Seismic damage analysis of bridge-CRTS III slab ballastless track system on high-speed railway

With the wide application of the Chinese Railway Track System III (CRTS III) slab ballastless track structure in highspeed railway lines, the seismic safety of CRTS III slab ballastless track structure is important in regions of high seismicity. However, little is known about the seismic behaviors of CRTS III ballastless track system. To address the issue, this paper investigates the seismic damage of a simply supported bridge-CRTS III slab bal-lastless track system. The result shows that CRTS III ballastless track can provide the bridge structure with longitudinal restraint but is inferior to the CRTS II ballastless track system. Fasteners are found seismically vulnerable for CRTS III ballastless track structure. The inconsistent vibration of unequal height piers is the main cause to the damage of the track structures. Based on the seismic damage analysis, a simplified seismic model of CRTS III ballastless track structure is proposed for computational attractiveness.