Seismic analysis of high-speed railway irregular bridge–track system considering V-shaped canyon effect

To explore the effect of canyon topography on the seismic response of railway irregular bridge-track system that crosses a V-shaped canyon, seismic ground motions of the horizontal site and V-shaped canyon site were simulated through theoretical analysis with 12 earthquake records selected from the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center(PEER) Strong Ground Motion Database matching the site condition of the bridge.Nonlinear seismic response analyses of an existing 11-span irregular simply supported railway bridge-track system were performed under the simulated spatially varying ground motions. The effects of the V-shaped canyon topography on the peak ground acceleration at bridge foundations and seismic responses of the bridge-track system were analyzed. Comparisons between the results of horizontal and V-shaped canyon sites show that the top relative displacement between adjacent piers at the junction of the incident side and the back side of the V-shaped site is almost two times that of the horizontal site, which also determines the seismic response of the fastener. The maximum displacement of the fastener occurs in the V-shaped canyon site and is 1.4 times larger than that in the horizontal site. Neglecting the effect of V-shaped canyon leads to the inappropriate assessment of the maximum seismic response of the irregular high-speed railway bridge-track system. Moreover, engineers should focus on the girder end to the left or right of the two fasteners within the distance of track seismic damage.

Elastic-plastic seismic response of CRTS II slab ballastless track system on high-speed railway bridges

China railways track structure II (CRTS II) slab ballastless track on bridge is one kind of track structures unique to China. Its main bearing component of longitudinal force is the continuous base plate rather than rail. And the track-bridge interaction is weakened by the sliding layer installed between base plate and bridge deck. In order to study the dynamic response of CRTS II slab ballastless track on bridge under seismic action, a 3D nonlinear dynamic model for simply-supported bridges and CRTS II track was established, which considered structures such as steel rail, fasteners, track plate, mortar layer, base plate, sliding layer, bridge, consolidation, anchors, stoppers, etc. Then its force and deformation features under different intensities of seismic excitation were studied. As revealed, the seismic response of the system increases with the increase of seismic intensity. The peak stresses of rail, track plate and base plate all occur at the abutment or anchors. Both track plate and base plate are about to crack. Besides, the rapid relative displacement between base plate and bridge deck due to the small friction coefficient of sliding layer is beneficial to improve the seismic performance of the system. During the earthquake, a large vertical displacement appears in base plate which leads to frequent collisions between stoppers and base plate, as a result, stoppers may be damaged.