Development of system reliability models for railway bridges.

Details

• Creators:
  Nowak, Andrzej S. ; Rakoczy, Anna M.
• Corporate Creators:
  Mid-America Transportation Center
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology Administration ; United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Railroad bridges
  • Deterioration
  • Fatigue (Mechanics)
  • Reliability
  • Finite element method
  • Risk assessment
  • Railroad bridges--Deterioration
  • Railroads--Maintenance and repair
  • Finite element method
  • Reliability (Engineering)
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• Publication/ Report Number:
  25-1121-0001-426
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Final report.
• Corporate Publisher:
  Mid-America Transportation Center
• Abstract:
  Performance of the railway transportation network depends on the reliability of railway bridges, which can be affected by ; various forms of deterioration and extreme environmental conditions. More than half of the railway bridges in US were ; built before 1950 and many show signs of distress. There is a need for efficient methods to evaluate the safety reserve in ; the railway bridges by identification of the most sensitive parts of the bridge. An accurate estimation of remaining fatigue ; life of a structural component is very important in prioritizing bridge rehabilitation and replacement. However, existing ; procedures to evaluate the fatigue behavior of bridges are based on estimation rather than the exact formulas because the ; load and the resistance models contain many uncertainties. Therefore, probabilistic methods are the most convenient way ; to provide levels of safety for various design cases. The objective of this study is to develop a reliability model for railway ; bridges, in particular for the fatigue and strength limit states. It will be demonstrated on two through-plate girder structures. ; The research involved nonlinear finite element method (FEM) analysis of typical railway bridges, development of ; statistical parameters of live load and resistance, and calculation of a reliability index for various considered conditions. ; The findings of this research with final conclusions will serve as a basis for the development of more rational provisions ; for the design and evaluation of railway bridges.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/25423/dot_25423_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 11.29 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:74711e0a740f03c9b2af68967564d8ded6f706f7b778973c82293aca72e0f68b5c3e195b3beaff3390767b3512d4eeceee6c74afb7419b8cc3f6dc507867416e