Modelling traffic action in high-speed railway bridges

Abstract

There are a significant variety of approaches taken by researchers when considering the response due to traffic in high-speed railway (HSR) bridges. This paper presents a comparison of the methods employed by different researchers for structural models developed for bridges, load models for high-speed trains and the interaction between train vehicles and a bridge. The structural bridge models range from simple beam models to complex three-dimensional solid models, with important implications in terms of the ability of the models to predict realistic responses, as well as in terms of the appropriateness for design purposes considering the computational requirements. The load models vary from simple moving loads to a full vehicle moving system (with its own masses, stiffness, dampers and contacts). In the latter approach, the interaction between the vehicle and the bridge becomes important. The major models in the literature are identified and compared. The aim of this work was to compile these different approaches and compare the different available methods in order to enable clearer judgement when setting the corresponding models for design purposes and to provide a deeper understanding of some of the key definitions within HSR bridge models.