@Article{icces.2022.08691,
AUTHOR = {J.C. Sánchez‐Quesada, A. Romero2, P. Galvín, E. Moliner, M.D. Martínez‐
Rodrigo},
TITLE = {Coupling Effects of the Ballast Track Infrastructure on the Dynamic  Response of Structurally Independent Railway Bridges},
JOURNAL = {The International Conference on Computational \& Experimental Engineering and Sciences},
VOLUME = {24},
YEAR = {2022},
NUMBER = {1},
PAGES = {1--1},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/icces/v24n1/48973},
ISSN = {1933-2815},
ABSTRACT = {This paper is devoted to track-bridge interaction phenomena in railway bridges of short 
simply-supported (SS) spans composed by ballasted tracks. These structures may experience 
high vertical acceleration levels under operating conditions. In particular, the coupling effect 
exerted by the ballast track shared by structural parts that are theoretically independent, such 
as consecutive simply-supported spans or twin adjacent single-track decks, is investigated. 
Experimental evidence shows that in these cases there may be an important vibration 
transmission from the loaded to the unloaded track, and that the interlocked ballast granules 
couple some of the lowest modes of vibration to an important extent. To this end a detailed 
three- dimensional (3D) Finite Element (FE) model of an existing bridge is implemented where 
the ballast in weakly connected regions is simulated as transversely isotropic material, in order 
to represent in a simplified manner, the degraded state due to the relative motion between the 
disconnected structural parts. First, the bridge numerical model is updated from the ambient 
vibration response of the structure previously measured by the authors. Second, a sensitivity 
analysis is performed on the properties of the degraded ballast and their effect on the first five 
modes of vibration of the bridge is discussed. Finally, the response of the bridge under 
operating conditions is computed numerically, compared with the response measured 
experimentally in the time and frequency domains and conclusions are extracted regarding the 
model adequacy.},
DOI = {10.32604/icces.2022.08691}
}