Comparison of different approaches for considering vehicle-bridge-interaction in dynamic calculations of high-speed railway bridges

The consideration of vehicle-bridge-interaction effects can be crucial in the computational determination of realistic dynamic bridge vibrations during train crossing. In order to implement these effects into calculations with the simplified Moving Load Model, the concept of additional mass or additional damping of the bridge structure was developed. Besides normative specifications, further numerically and analytically derived approaches are now available to determine the bridge structure's additional damping value. In this numerical study, one approach for determining an additional mass and four different approaches to determine additional damping are applied to dynamic calculations of 65 railway bridges. The calculation results are compared with those obtained by applying a more sophisticated multi-body model of the train, yielding results closer to reality. All calculations are performed for two train types, a conventional locomotive-hauled Railjet and the ICE 4 with partly powered passenger cars. The comparison of results indicates that applying one of the redesigned approaches can reflect the influence of vehicle-bridge-interaction for the investigated trains significantly better than the approach according to current calculation standards. However, several application limitations due to structural and train properties were observed.

Automated summary

This study investigates the importance of considering vehicle-bridge-interaction effects in the computational determination of dynamic bridge vibrations, proposing methods to determine additional mass and damping for bridge structures. Results show that applying one of the redesigned approaches can better reflect the influence of vehicle-bridge-interaction, although there are observed application limitations due to structural and train properties.