Fatigue evaluation of the increased weight limit on transit railway bridges.

Details

• Creators:
  Nassif, Hani ; Ozbay, Kaan ; Lou, Peng ; Su, Dan
• Corporate Creators:
  Mineta National Transit Research Consortium
• Corporate Publisher:
  Mineta National Transit Research Consortium
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology Administration ; Rutgers University
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Freight cars
  • Weight
  • Railroad bridges
  • Railroad safety
  • Steel bridges
  • Fatigue (Mechanics)
  • Structural health monitoring
  • Rail transit
  • Rehabilitation (Maintenance)
• Publication/ Report Number:
  CA-MNTRC-14-1143
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Description:
  The recent increase of freight railcar weight limits from 263,000 lbs. to 286,000 lbs. raises concerns for the safety of bridges
  
  on transit passenger rail systems, since they were not designed for this weight increase. Thus, there is a need to assess the
  
  impact of the weight increase on those bridges prior to utilizing passenger lines for freight transportation. This study introduces
  
  an accurate approach to ascertaining the remaining fatigue life of steel railway bridges. The analysis results indicate that heavy
  
  freight cars have a significant effect on critical locations near bridge supports. The introduction of heavier rail equipment will
  
  have a much more significant effect on shorter spans (span lengths of less than 60 ft.) than on long spans. This will allow transit
  
  operators or agencies to prioritize and schedule repairs and rehabilitation. An increase of 1,000 freight trains per year will shorten
  
  the remaining fatigue life by approximately 2 years. The relationship between annual freight train frequency and remaining fatigue
  
  life could help transit operators or agencies to balance the tradeoff between economic benefit and bridge rehabilitation cost.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  DTRT12-G-UTC21
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/28090/dot_28090_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.12 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3a5f0c50555502b26e74c50cc81d7955d401b620406ceff4986a85d0cfecf51bb9e046bd8432693818d469739683e03772ae3d766c702056de6b42361ab6363f