ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Detailed calculations of applied stresses and internal forces have to be made whenever a realistic fatigue assessment is necessary. The structural response of reinforced concrete slabs in railway viaducts is governed by local effects, and therefore detailed analysis procedures are required for a proper quantification of the stress records due to train passages. In this context, this paper presents a numerical procedure for detailed finite-element analysis of local effects caused by train passages. The interaction between bridge and train is considered by using an iterative procedure that solves the bridge subsystem by the mode-superposition method and the train subsystem by Newmark’s direct integration method. A static correction procedure is employed to take into account the static contribution of higher-frequency vibration modes (not explicitly considered in the mode-superposition analysis) for a correct quantification of stresses in the reinforced concrete slab. Illustrative results are shown for a real case study.
