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Railway Continuous Prestressed Concrete Bridge Design in Ballastless Track Turnout Zones

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technologies Article Railway Continuous Prestressed Concrete Bridge Design in Ballastless Track Turnout Zones Wen-Kuei Hsu 1,*, Neng-Hao Shih 2,† and Yu-Lin Lee 3,† 1 Southern Region Engineering Office, Railway Reconstruction Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Kaohsiung 81354, Taiwan 2 Central Region Engineering Office, Railway Reconstruction Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Taichung 40143, Taiwan; [email protected] 3 Department of Civil Engineering, Chung Hua University, Hsinchu 30012, Taiwan; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] † These authors contributed equally to this work. Academic Editors: Frédéric Lebon, Raffaella Rizzoni and Manoj Gupta Received: 31 December 2016; Accepted: 23 March 2017; Published: 30 March 2017 Abstract: Laying ballastless track on railway bridges has the advantages of reducing the train noise problem, improving passenger comfort, and reducing track maintenance costs. Therefore, railway bridges with ballastless track have gradually turned into a major trend in railway systems all over the world. In Taiwan, railway bridges with ballastless track have been in use for many years, with ballastless track turnouts also starting to be constructed in recent years. Where railway bridges with ballastless track turnouts are located in urban areas, special consideration must be given to the road crossings and the use of continuous bridges in the turnout zones. Accordingly, there arise a number of difficulties related to the bridge configurations or the continuous length of bridges being excessively long. Often, such situations necessitate the use of extremely large-sized bridge piers in the bridge design, or create the risk of serious damage to the pier structure should insufficient attention be given to any of the factors. This article will take a continuous prestressed concrete bridge as an example. The prestressed concrete bridge must be absolutely continuous, be able to include ballastless track turnout zones, and meet the needs of crossing roads. For this example, the length of the continuous prestressed concrete bridge is over 300 m. This article will also discuss the configuration of a continuous prestressed concrete bridge of railway, and—through the analysis of track–bridge interaction and temperature detection—provides suggestions on the optimal configuration model of the continuous prestressed concrete bridges, which should allow improper configuration and possible structural damage to be avoided. Keywords: railway bridge; continuous prestressed concrete bridge; ballastless track; turnout zone; track buckling 1. Introduction To effectively use urban land and address various urban transport problems, in recent years the government of Taiwan has been promoting the use of elevated railway systems in urban areas, as shown in Figure1. Since most urban railways are located adjacent to densely-populated residential and commercial areas, noise and vibration reduction becomes an important issue after the commencement of railway viaduct operation. Laying ballastless track has become a basic need in railway viaduct projects due to the importance of train noise reduction, improvement of passenger comfort, and the need to minimize the track maintenance costs. Technologies 2017, 5, 11; doi:10.3390/technologies5020011 www.mdpi.com/journal/technologies Technologies 2017, 5, 11 2 of 9 Technologies 2017, 5, 11 2 of 9 Figure 1. Urban elevated railway project in Taiwan. Figure 1. Urban elevated railway project in Taiwan. An elevated urban railway system usually contains general railway bridges, elevated railway Anstations, elevated and urbanturnout railway zone bridges system at usuallyboth ends contains of the generalelevated railwayrailway station. bridges, As elevated previously railway stations,mentioned, and turnout when configuring zone bridges continuous at both prestressed ends of theconcrete elevated bridges, railway we must station. consider As crossing previously mentioned,roads and when adopting configuring continuous continuous bridge prestressedin the turnout concrete zone. This bridges, often we leads must to considerbridge span crossing configuration issues and problems related to the bridge length being too long. These situations roads and adopting continuous bridge in the turnout zone. This often leads to bridge span necessitate the use of very large-sized bridge piers in the railway bridge design, and create the risk configurationof structural issues damage. and problems related to the bridge length being too long. These situations necessitateThis the usearticle of will very therefore large-sized recommend bridge piers solution in thes for railway continuous bridge prestressed design, andconcrete create bridge the risk of structuraldesign damage. in turnout zones, and continuous length over 300 m. It will suggest the configuration Thisessentials article of will continuous therefore prestressed recommend concrete solutions bridge for design continuous in turnout prestressed zones through concrete an analysis bridge of design in turnouttemperature zones, changes and continuous and various length types overof bridge 300 m.load. It The will article suggest will the also configuration discuss the structural essentials of continuouscharacteristics prestressed of continuous concrete bridges, bridge designthe effects in turnoutof various zones loading through types anon analysiscontinuous of bridges, temperature changesand and will various consider types some of important bridge load. points The on article continuous will alsobridge discuss design the which structural allow characteristicsstructure damage problems to be minimized. of continuous bridges, the effects of various loading types on continuous bridges, and will consider some2. important Ballastless points Track Turnout on continuous Layout Theory bridge design which allow structure damage problems to be minimized. 2.1. Turnouts and Bridge Configuration 2. Ballastless Track Turnout Layout Theory As the train speed increases, the viaduct railway with a ballastless track becomes an increasingly important factor in the safety and stability of railway operation, and the deformation 2.1. Turnouts and Bridge Configuration requirements of ballastless track turnout structure become more and more stringent. Therefore, Asthere the are train a number speed increases,of strict rules the and viaduct restrictions railway when with it comes a ballastless to the configuration track becomes of anballastless increasingly importanttrack factorturnouts in on the the safety railway and viaduct. stability of railway operation, and the deformation requirements of ballastless track turnout structure become more and more stringent. Therefore, there are a number 2.1.1. Avoid the Bridge Expansion Joint on Ballastless Track Turnout Zone of strict rules and restrictions when it comes to the configuration of ballastless track turnouts on the railway viaduct.Bridge expansion joints should not be installed in the railway viaduct’s ballastless track turnout zone, and continuous bridge configuration in the ballastless track turnout zone must 2.1.1. Avoidconducted. the BridgeIf the configuration Expansion cannot Joint on be Ballastlessperformed for Track the continuous Turnout Zone bridge, design of the bridge expansion plate should contain a hinge at the bridge expansion joints in order to meet the Bridgerequirement expansion that the joints turnout should zone notmust be not installed be set up in at the the railwaybridge expansion viaduct’s joints. ballastless track turnout zone, and continuousIn addition, the bridge relative configuration displacement in of the a brid ballastlessge expansion track joint turnout can ca zoneuse track must displacement conducted. If the configurationor turnout cannot damage, be so performed the bridge for expansion the continuous joint with bridge, turnout design switch ofblades the bridgemust be expansion kept at a plate shouldcertain contain distance a hinge (denoted at the bridgeas “d” expansionin Table 1 belo jointsw). in The order d values to meet are therecommended requirement in thatTable the 1, in turnout which L indicates the expansion length of the bridge [1]. zone must not be set up at the bridge expansion joints. In addition, the relative displacement of a bridge expansion joint can cause track displacement or turnout damage, so the bridge expansion joint with turnout switch blades must be kept at a certain distance (denoted as “d” in Table1 below). The d values are recommended in Table1, in which L indicates the expansion length of the bridge [1]. Technologies 2017, 5, 11 3 of 9 Table 1. Relationship of bridge expansion length L and d values. Technologies 2017, 5, 11 3 of 9 L ≤ 60 m d ≥ 7 m Table 1. Relationship60 m < of L ≤bridge90 m expansiond ≥ length17 m L and d values. 90 mL ≤ < 60 L m d d ≥≥ 7 27m m 60 m < L ≤ 90 m d ≥ 17 m For the bridge expansion length (L),90 the m following < L d larger≥ 27 m values are required: (1) BridgeFor fixedthe bridge point expansion and movable length support (L), the following of simple larger span values or multi-span are required: bridge. (2) The(1) Bridge distance fixed between point and two movable adjacent support bridges of simple of bridge span or fixed multi-span points. bridge. In short, a complex bridge type(2) The can distance be simplified between totwo a simpleadjacent beambridges model of bridge to determinefixed points. the In short, bridge a complex expansion bridge length L. The decisiontype can be of simplified a simple beamto
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