Acceleration-dependent lateral track resistance for the condition assessment of railway bridges with ballasted track

Andreas Stollwitzer; Lara Bettinelli; Samuel Loidl; Josef Fink

doi:10.7409/rabdim.025.002

Published: 2025-03-05

Vol. 24 No. 1 (2025)

Acceleration-dependent lateral track resistance for the condition assessment of railway bridges with ballasted track

Andreas Stollwitzer

, Lara Bettinelli

, Samuel Loidl

, Josef Fink

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.7409/rabdim.025.002

Abstract

Lateral track resistance is essential for assessing rail track stability and the operational safety of railway lines. This contribution addresses the experimental investigation of lateral track resistance on railway bridges subjected to dynamic loads. The experiments are carried out using a large-scale test facility, replicating a representative section of a railway bridge at a scale of 1:1, thus enabling a targeted and isolated observation of the ballast superstructure's behaviour. The investigations aim to identify the influence of vertical vibrations on lateral track resistance, both for unloaded and vertically loaded track. Based on the experiments, load-dependent acceleration limits are identified, above which a significant reduction in lateral track resistance occurs. Furthermore, experimental lateral load-displacement curves depending on the vertical load and acceleration level are generated for determining lateral track stiffness. The results comprise the identified limit values for vertical accelerations and the acceleration-dependent lateral track resistances, which can be applied for condition assessment of railway bridges in the context of dynamic assessment.

Keywords:

ballasted track, condition assessment, experiments, lateral track-bridge interaction, railway bridges

Similar Articles

Juliusz Cieśla, Mirosław Biskup, Marian Skawiński, Experimental analysis of stiffness of pre-tensioned concrete bridge beams , Roads and Bridges – Drogi i Mosty: Vol. 8 No. 1 (2009)
Marcin Świtała, Agnieszka Łukasiewicz, The impact of road investment projects on the economic activity in the light of companies operating in surrounding environment , Roads and Bridges – Drogi i Mosty: Vol. 18 No. 4 (2019)
Czesław Machelski, Main girder deformation functions from service life of composite bridges , Roads and Bridges – Drogi i Mosty: Vol. 21 No. 3 (2022)
Alicja Sołowczuk, Przemysław Gardas, The proposed assessment method of pavement conditon at bus bays and bus stops , Roads and Bridges – Drogi i Mosty: Vol. 12 No. 4 (2013)
Angelika G. Batrakova, Vladimir V. Troyanovsky, Dmitry O. Batrakov, Maryna O. Pilicheva, Nataliia S. Skrypnyk, Prediction of the road pavement condition index using stochastic models , Roads and Bridges – Drogi i Mosty: Vol. 19 No. 3 (2020)
Roman Nagórski, Paweł Tutka, Magdalena Złotowska, Defining the domain and boundary conditions for finite element model of flexible road pavement , Roads and Bridges – Drogi i Mosty: Vol. 16 No. 4 (2017)
Leszek Kornalewski, Monika Kowalska-Sudyka, Anna Ledwolorz, Proposal of post evaluation methodology for the impact of a new road investment project on road safety , Roads and Bridges – Drogi i Mosty: Vol. 19 No. 3 (2020)
Hanna Onysyk, Analysis of the temperature changes in the steel structure of Puławy bridge over the Vistula River , Roads and Bridges – Drogi i Mosty: Vol. 11 No. 1 (2012)
Janusz Rymsza, Causes of the Morandi viaduct disaster in Genoa as a contribution to the design of pre-stressed structures , Roads and Bridges – Drogi i Mosty: Vol. 19 No. 1 (2020)
Jakub Zawieska, Analysis of external costs of transport within the scope of emissions of air pollution and noise , Roads and Bridges – Drogi i Mosty: Vol. 14 No. 3 (2015)

<< < 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 > >>

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Stollwitzer, A., Bettinelli, L., Loidl, S., & Fink, J. (2025). Acceleration-dependent lateral track resistance for the condition assessment of railway bridges with ballasted track. Roads and Bridges – Drogi I Mosty, 24(1), 37–45. https://doi.org/10.7409/rabdim.025.002

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

EN 1990/A1:2013 05 15 Eurocode – Basis of structural design – Amendment 1: Application for bridges (consolidated version). Austrian Standards International, Vienna
Google Scholar

ÖNORM B 4008-2:2019 11 15 Assessment of load capacity of existing structures – Part 2: bridge construction. Austrian Standards International, Vienna
Google Scholar

ERRI D214 Railway bridges for speeds > 200 km/h, RP 2 – RP 9. European Rail Research Institute, 1999, Utrecht
Google Scholar

Zhai W., Han Z., Chen Z., Ling L., Zhu S.: Train-track-bridge dynamic interaction: a state-of-the-art review. Vehicle System Dynamics, 57, 7, 2019, 984-1024, DOI: 10.1080/00423114.2019.1605085
Google Scholar

Ticona Mela L.R., Ribeiro D., Calcada R., Bittencourt T.N.: Validation of a vertical train-track-bridge dynamic interaction model based on limited experimental data. Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, 16, 1, 2020, 181-201, DOI: 10.1080/15732479.2019.1605394
Google Scholar

Yang B., Yau J.D., Wu Y.S.: Vehicle-bridge interaction dynamics with applications to high-speed railways. World Scientific, Taipei, 2004
Google Scholar

Bettinelli L., Stollwitzer A., Fink J.: Numerical study on the influence of coupling beam modeling on structural accelerations during high-speed train crossings. Applied Sciences, 13, 15, 2023, Article ID: 8746, DOI: 10.3390/app13158746
Google Scholar

Atapin V., Bondarenko A., Sysyn M., Grün D.: Monitoring and evaluation of the lateral stability of CWR track. Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention, 22, 2022, 319-332, DOI: 10.1007/s11668-021-01307-3
Google Scholar

Hasan N.: Buckling of a ballasted curved track under unloaded conditions. Advances in Mechanical Engineering, 13, 6, 2021, DOI: 10.1177/16878140211025187
Google Scholar

Lichtberger B.: Handbuch Gleis – Unterbau, Oberbau, Instandhaltung, Wirtschaftlichkeit. Tetzlaff Verlag, Hamburg, 2010
Google Scholar

Wang H., Xing C., Deng X.: Effect of Random Lateral Ballast Resistance on Force-Deformation Characteristics of CWR with a Small-Radius Curve. Materials, 16, 7, 2023, Article ID: 2876, DOI: 10.3390/ma16072876
Google Scholar

Khatibi F., Esmaeili M., Mohammadzadeh S.: DEM analysis of railway track lateral resistance. Soils and Foundations, 57, 4, 2017, 587-602, DOI: 10.1016/j.sandf.2017.04.001
Google Scholar

Esmaeili M., Hosseini S.A.S., Sharavi M.: Experimental assessment of dynamic lateral resistance of railway concrete sleeper. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 82, 2016, 40-54, DOI: 10.1016/j.soildyn.2015.11.011
Google Scholar

Mohammadzadeh S., Esmaeili M., Khatibi F.: A new field investigation on the lateral and longitudinal resistance of ballasted track. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, 232, 8, 2018, 2138-2148, DOI: 10.1177/0954409718764190
Google Scholar

Jing A., Aela P.: Review of the lateral resistance of ballasted tracks. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, 234, 8, 2020, 807-820, DOI: 10.1177/0954409719866355
Google Scholar

Zakeri J.A.: Lateral Resistance of Railway Track. In: Reliability and Safety in Railway, IntechOpen, Rijeka, 2012, 354-378, DOI: 10.5772/35421
Google Scholar

Jing G., Aela P., Fu H.: The contribution of ballast layer components to the lateral resistance of ladder sleeper track. Construction and Building Materials, 202, 2019, 796-805, DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.01.017
Google Scholar

Le Pen L.M., Powrie W.: Contribution of base, crib and shoulder ballast to the lateral sliding resistance of railway track: a geotechnical perspective. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit, 225, 2, 2011, 113-128, DOI: 10.1177/0954409710397094
Google Scholar

Stollwitzer A., Bettinelli L., Fink J.: The longitudinal track-bridge interaction of ballasted track in railway bridges: Experimental determination of dynamic stiffness and damping characteristics. Engineering Structures, 274, 2023, Article ID: 115115, DOI: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2022.115115
Google Scholar

Stollwitzer A., Bettinelli L., Fink J.: Experimental analysis of longitudinal and lateral track-bridge interaction of the ballasted track in railway bridges. 2nd Conference of the European Association on Quality Control of Bridges and Structures EUROSTRUCT 2023, ce/papers, 6, 5, 2023, 430-439, DOI: 10.1002/cepa.2128
Google Scholar

EN 1991-2:2012 03 01 Eurocode 1: Actions on structures – Part 2: Traffic loads on bridges (consolidated version). Austrian Standards International, Vienna
Google Scholar

Stollwitzer A., Bettinelli L., Fink J.: Vertical track-bridge interaction in railway bridges with ballast superstructure: experimental analysis of dynamic stiffness and damping behavior. International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics, DOI: 10.1142/S0219455425400085
Google Scholar

Stollwitzer A., Fink J.: Dämpfungskennwerte des Schotteroberbaus auf Eisenbahnbrücken, Teil 2: Energiedissipation im Schotteroberbau und zugehöriges Rechenmodell. Bautechnik, 98, 8, 2021, 552-562, DOI: 10.1002/bate.202000100 (in German)
Google Scholar

Hackl K.: Development and application of a testing facility for studying the dynamic behaviour of ballasted track at railway bridges. reposiTUm: Dissertation, Technische Universität Wien, 2017, DOI: 10.34726/hss.2017.50541 (in German)
Google Scholar

Andreas Stollwitzer

andreas.stollwitzer@tuwien.ac.at
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4509-7267

Affiliation:

TU Wien, Institute of Structural Engineering, Karlsplatz 13, A-1040 Vienna Austria

Lara Bettinelli

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2886-310X

Affiliation:

TU Wien, Institute of Structural Engineering, Karlsplatz 13, A-1040 Vienna Austria

Samuel Loidl

https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3361-889X

Affiliation:

TU Wien, Institute of Structural Engineering, Karlsplatz 13, A-1040 Vienna Austria

Josef Fink

Affiliation:

TU Wien, Institute of Structural Engineering, Karlsplatz 13, A-1040 Vienna Austria

Acceleration-dependent lateral track resistance for the condition assessment of railway bridges with ballasted track

Abstract

Keywords:

Similar Articles

Downloads

Andreas Stollwitzer

Lara Bettinelli

Samuel Loidl

Josef Fink