Railway bridges are critical in the transportation network and vital to the profitability of the industry. Thousands of U.S. bridge spans of more than 50 years of age are still in service. Transportation Technology Center, Inc.’s current work under the Association of American Railroads Strategic Research Initiatives Program on bridge life extension focuses on the effects of increased axle loads, on extending the safe service life of existing steel bridge spans, and on onboard inspection of bridge structural integrity. The program includes various tests at the Bridge Deflection Test Facility (BDTF) at the Transportation Technology Center, Pueblo, Colorado, as well as vehicle–track–bridge interaction modeling. This paper presents simulation and test results of a freight car and locomotive running on a railway bridge located at the BDTF. Simulation and test results of an onboard system installed on an instrumented freight car indicated that it is a useful tool for identifying some bridge condition issues. The BDTF provides adjustable bridge strength and geometry conditions. Various tests were conducted on the BDTF to investigate the potential for using onboard technology to detect bridge impairment or changes in bridge behavior. Test results were used to validate the NUCARS three-layer track model of the BDTF. Experimental and analytical case studies were conducted to develop onboard systems for dynamic inspection of bridges under varying loads.


    Access

    Download

    Check availability in my library

    Order at Subito €


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Vehicle–Track–Bridge Interaction Modeling and Validation for Short Span Railway Bridges


    Additional title:

    Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board


    Contributors:


    Publication date :

    2017-01-01




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



    Some short span railway bridges

    Engineering Index Backfile | 1899


    Railway bridges of short span

    Wilson, F.W. | Engineering Index Backfile | 1896


    Long and short span railway bridges

    Roebling, John Augustus | TIBKAT | 1869


    Short-span railway bridge standards

    Engineering Index Backfile | 1901


    Dynamic Bridge Testing; Short Span Bridges

    Heywood, R. / OECD; DIVINE Project | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1995