Seismic safety assessment of trains running on high-speed railway bridges with chloride-induced corroding piers

• Published in: Science China. Technological sciences Vol. 66; no. 2; pp. 320 - 335
• Main Authors: Guo, Wei, Wang, Yang, Liu, HanYun, Yang, Na, Liu, Ming, Cai, YuJun, Zhang, ZhuanZhuan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Science China Press 01.02.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bridge piers; Corrosion; Corrosion effects; Earthquake damage; Earthquakes; Engineering; Finite element method; High speed rail; Performance evaluation; Railway bridges; Seismic response; Stiffness; Structural response; Structural safety; chloride-induced corroding; high-speed railway; time-varying performance; earthquake; train running safety
• ISSN: 1674-7321; 1869-1900
• DOI: 10.1007/s11431-022-2193-x

For the lifetime assessment of the running safety of a train in aggressive environments and earthquake-prone areas, the effects of corrosion on seismic performance must be considered. Research on the running safety of trains, including corrosion damage, is limited, despite the fact that seismic safety assessment of trains on high-speed railway bridges has been extensively examined. In this work, the running safety of a train was evaluated using a time-varying corroded bridge finite-element model established in OpenSees. Two pier types were considered, and three ground-motion types were selected for performing seismic performance evaluations. Subsequently, the seismic response of the corroded bridge-track structure under an earthquake was analyzed. The spectrum intensity was used as the structural response index for the running safety assessment of trains under earthquakes, and the long-term safety of trains on bridges with different pier heights and earthquake types, considering different corroding deterioration, was evaluated. The results indicate that under low-level earthquakes, piers are primarily in a linear elastic state and least influenced by corrosion; whereas under high-level earthquakes, the running safety of trains on a bridge significantly deteriorates after corrosion, particularly for high-pier bridges, mainly because the corroded piers are more likely to yield lower post-yield stiffness. The results of this study suggest that in the seismic safety assessment of trains on corroded bridges, time-varying seismic performance characteristics should be considered.