Test Verification and Application of a Longitudinal Temperature Force Testing Method for Long Seamless Rails Using FBG Strain Sensor

In order to evaluate the health status of continuous welded rail accurately, a deduction on the FBG sensing principle has been made with regard to the temperature variation of test specimens under different constraint conditions. A long seamless rail testing solution and its on-site application are designed based on this deduction. According to the verification experiments of sensing principle inside, the effect of the reference temperature on the FBG temperature and strain sensitivity coefficient within −30°C~30°C is not higher than 0.05%; the maximum relative error of single point between the tested and theoretical results of test specimen under constrained condition is 3.2%; and the maximum relative error of slopes of fitted straight lines based on the tested and theoretical results within the entire test temperature range is 2.3%, verifying the deduced FBG sensing principle with regard to the test specimen under constrained condition. The maximum error of the longitudinal temperature force between the on-site tested results and calculated results in long seamless rails is only 6.1 kN, the corresponding rail temperature variation is 0.3°C, and the accumulated error is controllable within 5%

Interaction between Track and Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridge: Recommendations for Calculation

Geometric nonlinearity (GN) and initial internal forces (IIFs) are the basic characteristics of cable-stayed bridges, but now there is no effective method for analyzing the effect of them on bridge-track interaction of continuous welded rail (CWR) on cable-stayed bridge. A method for reconstructing the displacement-force curve of ballast longitudinal resistance was put forward according to the deformation of cable-stayed bridges under the completed bridge state. A feasibility study on the method was conducted via two aspects of the force and deformation of CWR on a 5 × 40 m single-line simple-supported beam bridge with initial deformation. With the multi-element modeling method and the updated Lagrangian formulation method, a rail-beam-cable-tower 3D calculation model considering the GN and IIFs of cable-stayed bridge was established. Taking a (140 + 462 + 1092 + 462 + 140 m) twin-tower cable-stayed bridge as an example, the impacts of GN and IIFs on bridge-track interaction were comparatively analyzed. The results show that the method put forward to reconstruct ballast longitudinal resistance can prevent the impact of initial deformation of bridge and makes it possible to consider the effect of IIFs of cable-stayed bridge on bridge-track interaction. The GN and IIFs play important roles in the calculation of rail longitudinal force due to vertical bending of bridge deck under train load and the variance of cable force due to negative temperature changes in bridge decks and rails with rail breaking, and the two factors can reduce rail longitudinal force and variance of cable force by 11.8% and 14.6%, respectively. The cable-stayed bridge can be simplified as a continuous beam bridge with different constraints at different locations, when rail longitudinal force due to positive temperature changes in bridge deck and train braking is calculated

Performance Analysis of Short-Span Simply Supported Bridges for Heavy-Haul Railways with A Novel Prefabricated Strengthening Structure

A novel prefabricated strengthening structure (NPSS) is proposed to improve the vertical stiffness and load-bearing capacity of existing short-span bridges for heavier axle-load trains passing through. The strengthening principle of the NPSS is revealed through theoretical derivation. A refined calculation model is prepared to investigate the effects of two important parameters on the structural behavior of the bridge, including the support stiffness and the installation location of the NPSS. The calculation model is also verified with four-point bending test of a bridge removed from a heavy-haul railway. With the calculation model and the response surface methodology (RSM), the functional relationships among the crucial mechanical indexes of the bridge and the two parameters of the NPSS are methodically established. Thus, the optimal values of the parameters are determined via a multi-objective optimization model and the analysis hierarchy process-fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. Furthermore, the feasibility of the optimal parameters is appropriately verified based on simulations of the vehicle–track–bridge dynamics. The existence of the NPSS with optimal parameters could enhance the vertical stiffness of the bridge by 21.0% and bearing capacity by 19.5%. In addition, it could reduce the midspan dynamic deflection amplitude by 23.4% and vertical vibration acceleration amplitude of the bridge by 25.2%. The results of the study are expected to contribute to the capacity development and rehabilitation of existing heavy-haul railways with low cost and convenient construction without railway outage

Layout Optimization of Rail Expansion Joint on Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridge for High-Speed Railway

Continuous welded rail (CWR) has been widely applied to the Chinese high-speed railways. It is interesting to reduce the effect of rail longitudinal force on the long-span cable-stayed bridges. Taking the pile-soil interaction into account, the finite element model of CWR on the long-span cable-stayed bridge is established based on the bridge-track interaction theory. The rail longitudinal force can be reduced and the track stability can be improved significantly by installing Rail Expansion Joint (REJ). The layout scheme of REJ plays a controlling role on designing CWR on bridges. Results show that the unidirectional REJ should be laid on both ends of the long-span cable-stayed bridge. Switch rails of REJ are set up on the main beam, stock rails are laid on the simply supported beams and crossing over beam joints, and several-meter long small resistance fasteners need to be laid on the sides of stock rails to reduce the fixed pier longitudinal force near the main beam. The range of REJ laid on cable-stayed bridge is mainly determined by temperature, rail breaking, and seismic condition; the bending and braking loads have little influence on it. Multiple field tests are carried out to prove the validity of the numerical model and the design methodology

The Longitudinal Force Measurement of CWR Tracks with Hetero-Cladding FBG Sensors: A Proof of Concept

A new method has been proposed to accurately determine longitudinal additional force in continuous welded rail (CWR) on bridges via hetero-cladding fiber Bragg grating (HC-FBG) sensors. The HC-FBG sensor consists of two FBGs written in the same type of fiber but with different cladding diameters. The HC-FBGs have the same temperature sensitivity but different strain sensitivity because of the different areas of the cross section. The differential strain coefficient is defined as the relative wavelength differences of two FBGs with the change of applied longitudinal force. In the verification experiment in the lab, the HC-FBGs were attached on a section of rail model of which the material property is the same as that of rail on line. The temperature and differential strain sensitivity were calibrated using a universal testing machine. As shown by the test results, the linearity between the relative wavelength difference and the longitudinal additional force is greater than 0.9999. The differential strain sensitivity is 4.85 × 10−6/N. Moreover, the relative wavelength difference is not affected by the temperature change. Compared to the theoretical results, the accumulated error is controlled within 5.0%