Traffic safety and passenger comfort for steel railway bridges

Recently rapid-transit railway systems have been constructed in many developing countries due to its advantages in congestions and environmental problems. Railway bridges show many different aspects compared to road bridges and passenger comfort and traffic safety are one of them. In particular, deflection and acceleration due to repeated vibration characteristics have a structural weakness that can cause undesirable response. Especially steel railway bridges have been known to have weaknesses due to its relatively light weights compared to concrete bridges. The purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamic response of steel box girder bridges due to passing trains then propose the appropriate method to mitigate the level of vibration in terms of accelerations. Three steel railway bridges are tested and the theoretical model to analyze the dynamic response of the bridge by passing train are developed. For the verification of the model, the natural frequency extracted using the acceleration data measured in the bridge is compared with the natural frequency of the theoretical model. To mitigate the acceleration level of the bridge, parametric studies are performed to find the effectiveness of the method. Based on the analysis, the appropriate method is proposed for decreasing the acceleration of the bridge for passenger comfort and traffic safety.