Practical aspects related to the retrofit of railway bridges under high-speed traffic

Abstract eng:
This contribution deals with the application of Passive Control techniques to mitigate the excessive vibrations that short simply-supported railway bridges may undergo under the circulation of High-Speed trains. A possible solution to reduce inadmissible levels of deck vertical acceleration, based on retrofitting the bridge with fluid-viscous dampers connected to the slab and to an auxiliary structure, is proposed and evaluated. To this end, a real bridge belonging to the Spanish railway network is analysed using an orthotropic plate Finite Element model, which properties are updated from experimental tests performed on the structure in the past. A possible conditioning of the line for a higher Design Velocity than the current one is considered, leading to an inadmissible performance of the bridge. A particular retrofit is proposed in order to accomplish the Serviceability Limit State of vertical acceleration, and the controlling effect of the proposed system is shown for a wide range of trains and circulating velocities. In order to realistically assess the technical feasibility of the alternative, special attention is given to practical aspects related to the auxiliary structure and dampers connection to the original bridge deck.

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