Longitudinal forces in continuously welded rails due to nonlinear track-bridge interaction for loading sequences

The use of continuously welded rails (CWR) governs the longitudinal stress caused by seasonal temperature changes, bending of supporting structure and braking/accelerating due to passing trains. Those three loads have been regulated in Eurocode1 and accomplished by the national codes like DIN Fb-101 in Germany. An additional loading case identified and treated in this thesis is the load due to a change of the coupling stiffness in longitudinal direction between the track and bridge. This additional load occurs as a consequence of the employment of a nonlinear stiffness law which increases the restoring force by a factor of 3 when the situation of the track changes from ‘unloaded’ to ‘loaded’ due to a passing train. This particular phenomenon has not been mentioned in the codes so far though it is a natural consequence of fundamental conditions in those codes. For CWR the longitudinal coupling between the rail and bridge plays an important role. This coupling interface is created either by a ballast, for a ballasted track, or by a fastening system in the case of slab track. The deformation state of the coupling interface characterizes the behaviour of the system, whether elastic or plastic. Therefore, the nonlinear behaviour is valid for the system. To accommodate the nonlinear nature, a sequential loading analysis is used, taking into account the loading history. As the change situation due to a passing train happens in a short time, the influence of the mass acceleration should be taken into account in the system’s equilibrium. This aspect is investigated by treating the dynamic load as an impulse-like load. However, a realistic load needs some time to affect the whole bridge, thus the continuous change of stiffness is used to simulate the dynamic analysis. There is a lack of information on determining the value of coupling stiffness in longitudinal direction caused by a passing train. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the coupling stiffness from field measurements in order to find reliable values. The implementation of the load onto several typical bridges shows that the change of the coupling stiffness increases the stresses and it should not be neglected. The evaluation of the load due to a change of the coupling stiffness accompanied by bending of the supporting structure gives satisfactory results by using the static analysis only. Thus, a dynamic analysis can be avoided. Multiple cycles of passing trains occurring after seasonal temperature change indicate a significant increase of elastic parts along the track-bridge coupling interface and a decrease in stresses in the rails. Thus the danger of deterioration is reduced significantly.

Level thesis:degree_level

thesis.doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher

Technische Universität Dresden

Year

2009

Author dc:creator

• Widarda, Dina Rubiana

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ruge, Peter
• Geissler, Karsten
• Bagayoko, Lamine

• Track-bridge interaction
• Eurocode1
• nonlinear stiffness law
• coupling interface
• longitudinal force
• load sequence with deformation history.
• Gleis-Tragwerk Interaktion
• Nichtlinearer Verschiebewiderstand
• Durchschubwiderstand
• Lastfolge mit Verformungsgeschichte