2014 International Conference on Civil Engineering, Energy and Environment

Transient Dynamic Analysis of Simple Railway Bridge under Train

Moving Load

Melaku S.1, a, Hongsheng Qiu2, b

1. School of transportation, Wuhan University of Technology, 430063, Wuhan Hubei China
2. School of transportation, Wuhan University of Technology, 430063, Wuhan Hubei China
a
2690035285@qq.com, bqiuhhss@163.com

Abstract. This study investigates the dynamic behavior of railway bridges crossed by travelling trains. A
simplified formulation was adopted in order to perform a direct analysis of the effects of the parameters
involved in the problem. The railway bridge is modelled as a beam, while the trains are modelled as travelling
inertial distributed loads. On the basis of typical theory of moving load analysis between bridge and vehicles,
finite element model of bridge is established by ANSYS software and solved by transient dynamic analysis.
Through the numerical simulation analysis, dynamic response characteristics of the bridge body are acquired
when the train passes through the bridge at different position with respect to time. The deformation of the
railway bridge subjected to the train load is highly significant, thus it is clear that the dynamic response of the
bridge under the moving load must be considered in the process of structural design.
Keywords: Dynamic transient analysis, ANSYS, Dynamic behavior, Numerical simulation

1. Introduction
The dynamic behavior of railway bridges under the action of moving trains is a complicated phenomenon.
Railway bridges are complex structures, consisting of various structural components with different properties. In
addition, the dynamic effects are influenced by the interaction between vehicles and the bridge structure.
Considering the dynamic effects due to moving vehicles on bridges, the most important parameters that
influence the dynamic response of railway bridges have to be considered. Vehicle speed, rail surface roughness,
characteristics of the bridge structure and the vehicle, the number of vehicles and their travel paths are different
parameters, influence the dynamic.
Studies of dynamic effects on bridges subjected to moving loads have been carried out ever since the first
railway bridges were built in the early 19th century. Since that time vehicle speed and vehicle mass to the bridge
mass ratio have been increased, resulting in much greater dynamic effect. In recent years, the interest in traffic
induced vibrations has been increasing due to the introduction of high –speed vehicles, like the CRH train in
China, TGV train in France and the Shinkansen train in Japan with speed exceeding 300Km/hr. The increasing
dynamic effect is not only imposing severe conditions upon bridge design, but also upon vehicle design, in order
to give an acceptable level of comfort for the passengers [1].
The dynamic response of bridges subjected to moving vehicles is complicated. This is because the dynamic
effects induced by moving vehicles on the bridge are greatly influenced by the interaction between vehicles and
the bridge structure. The important parameters that influence the dynamic response is: Vehicle speed, road (or
rail) surface roughness, characteristic of the vehicle, such as the number of axles, axle spacing, axial load,
natural frequencies, and damping and stiffness of the vehicles and suspension system.
In the analysis of the dynamic effects of railway vehicles on bridges, simplified models are suggested and
usually used, taking into account only some aspects, such as determinism, vertical effects, and the influence of
moving forces and mass inertial effects of both bridge and vehicle can be influential, and not negligible, since
the mass of the external load introduces a coupling effect between the load and the structure. Other important
aspects, such as dynamic properties of travelling vehicles and track irregularities, are not considered in the
present study. The railway bridge model most commonly used is a continuous Euler Bernoulli beam, or a
Timoshenko beam, traversed by either concentrated or distributed moving loads [4].

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There are several methods of solving transient problems using time stepping methods. They are all based on
the fact that the applied force may be written as a set of discrete values, usually at equal time steps. This implies
that the equation of motion is to be established and solved at every time-step: based on the explained fact, this
study focuses to solve the dynamic response problem using axle load apply to railway bridge structures. The
structures modeled as a two dimensional beam element. The axle load applied to railway bridge structures at
different position with respect to time. The railway bridge structure beam meshed into finite element and node.
The bridge restrained at both ends and the tower restrained at the base. The axle load applied at different
position with respect to time. Thus the problem is calculated using transient dynamic analysis of ANSYS 14.5.
The new idea for this paper is how to put the axle load at different position with respect to time step. Besides
the requirement of data for analysis of the dynamic response is easily accessible with less cost and time. The
concept also is very useful for calculation of any time step application of non-cyclic load.
Since the maximum deflection railway bridge is dependent on the speed of the train, span length, mass,
stiffness, damping of structures and axle load of the train, the objective of this paper is to investigate the
dynamic behavior of an existing railway bridge subjected to axial load.

2. Experimental Procedure
Dynamic analysis may be carried out by direct application of moving loads, with each axle represented by a
load Fi travelling at the train speed v (figure1) [4]. This is performed by finite element or similar programs, the
train is simply modelled by means of a continuous load in the form of a moving strip, an idealization which can
be adopted when the span of the bridge is large in comparison with the distance between axles. A constant
speed of motion of vehicles along the bridge is assumed

Figure 1: Load model of a train of moving load

In principle, each response magnitude to be checked should be evaluated independently in the dynamic
analysis; however, this may not be practical for engineering calculations. A common Simplification is to
perform a dynamic calculation to compute a single overall impact factor measuring a characteristic magnitude E,
such as the displacement at mid-span. This factor is later assumed to apply for all the response magnitudes to be
checked. In such way, a real impact factor may be computed from the dynamic analysis.
The train is simply modelled by means of a continuous load in the form of a moving strip, an idealization
which can be adopted when the span of the bridge is large in comparison with the distance between axles [2]. A
constant speed of motion of vehicles along the bridge is assumed. Figure 2 shows that the model of the constant
force 800000N and the speed of moving load is selected for 150 km/h. The type of element railway bridge
structures is defined for a two-dimensional BEAM3 beam element bridge deck, main tower, rail and sleeper and
LINK10 for supporting cable and COMBIN 14 for pad and ballast. Through meshing the Railway Bridge is
divided into 191 elements and 183 nodes. Then Transient dynamic analysis of finite element ANSYS 14.5 is
carried out.

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Figure 2: simple supported rail Way Bridge model ANSYS

Railway bridge structure maintenance cost is very high and its impact is very dangerous for human life and
the economy of the country. The estimation of the dynamic response of the railway bridge structure should be
considered during the design stage of the structures. To help, this study developed the subroutine transit,
dynamic analysis command by considering the axle load at different position with respect to time. The
subroutine is explained below.
/SOLU

ANTYPE, TRANS

tt=0 !The initial time of Cross the bridge

*DO, I, 2,12! Set Step through the bridge

DD=DISTKP (I-1, I) ! Calculate the length between the two key points

tt=tt+dd/v ! Calculate the current time

TIME, tt !Time step

FKDELE, all, all ! Delete the previous step load

FK, I, fy, -f/2 ! Train moving axle load with respect to time TT

SOLVE

*ENDDO

3. Result and Discussion

3.1 Dynamic Response Analysis ANSYS
The dynamic response of the beam for a moving vehicle load is calculated using ANSYS finite element
software Computer. Mid-span Vertical displacement of the beam calculated with respect to time. The ordinate is
the value of vertical displacement of bridge structures and the abscissa is the length of time.
From figure 3, the result shows that the vertical deformation of the bridge at mid span due to the dynamic
response of the railway bridge structures is the form of the sinusoidal graph at different position with respect to
time. Therefore the method can be considered as one of the methods to calculate the dynamic response of simple
supported cable railway bridge which can be considered during the design stages.  

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Figure 3: Mid span vertical displacement ANSYS 14.5

3.2 Comparison of ANSYS v's Analytical solution

The problem defined in Figure 3.1 was solved using the analytical model, equations, and result compared with
those obtained from ANSYS. Mid-span Vertical displacement of the beam versus vehicle positions both from
analytical and ANSYS is presented in Table.

Table 1. Analytical calculation

n 1 2 3 4 5 tme analytical(mm) ansys(mm) analytical (m) ansys(m)

P(N) 800000 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 7.20E‐02 1.90E‐01 ‐7.37E‐03 1.90E‐04 ‐7.37E‐06
L(m) 34 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 0.144 1.90E‐01 ‐3.99E‐02 1.90E‐04 ‐3.99E‐05
EI(N.m^2 5.60E+11 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 0.216 1.90E‐01 ‐9.15E‐02 1.90E‐04 ‐9.15E‐05
ρ(Kg/m^3) 7500 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 0.288 1.90E‐01 ‐1.36E‐01 1.90E‐04 ‐1.36E‐04
v(m/s) 41.66 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 0.36 1.90E‐01 ‐1.79E‐01 1.90E‐04 ‐1.79E‐04
τ=L/v(sec) 0.816 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 0.432 1.90E‐01 ‐2.21E‐01 1.90E‐04 ‐2.21E‐04
96/π^4 0.9855 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 0.504 1.90E‐01 ‐2.36E‐01 1.90E‐04 ‐2.36E‐04
PL^3/48EI 1.17E‐03 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 0.576 1.90E‐01 ‐2.22E‐01 1.90E‐04 ‐2.22E‐04
(x/L)@x=L/2 0.5 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 0.648 1.90E‐01 ‐1.85E‐01 1.90E‐04 ‐1.85E‐04
α1=πv/ω L(ω1=6.4747 0.59 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 0.72 1.90E‐01 ‐1.18E‐01 1.90E‐04 ‐1.18E‐04
α2=πv/ω L(ω2=6.4747 0.18 1.98E‐04 5.16E‐08 ‐1.02E‐05 ‐1.31E‐08 1.80E‐06 0.816 1.90E‐01 3.81E‐03 1.90E‐04 3.81E‐06
α3=πv/ω L(ω3=6.4747 0.0989
α4=πv/ω L(ω4=6.4747 0.0889 2.50E‐01
α5=πv/ω L(ω5=6.4747 0.0525 2.00E‐01
π 3.14
1 50E 01

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From table 1 the ANSYS computed result and the analytical calculation shows that the result explains the
vertical deformation of Railway Bridge in the mid span. Therefore the dynamic response should have a
significant under the railway bridge which should give more attention during the design stages.

‐0.5
Vertical displacemet(mm)

‐1

‐1.5 ANSYS(mm)

‐2
Analytic(mm)

‐2.5
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Vehicle position,Xv/L
 

Figure 4: Vertical Displacement at mid span versus Vehicle position

From figure 4, the result is compared with analytical model which has been studied by different researcher and
thus the comparison result of the Finite element model with the analytical model show almost the same
sinusoidal graph.

4. Conclusion
The interest in the dynamic behavior of railway bridges has increased in recent years with the introduction of
high speed trains. Higher speeds of the trains have resulted in larger and more complicated loads than earlier,
producing significant dynamic effects. Dynamic response of railway bridges is a major factor for design and
maintenance, especially in new high speed railway lines.
The characteristics of the dynamic response of the bridge body are acquired through numerical simulation
when vehicles pass through the railway bridge under axial load with different position with respect to time. This
research can provide reference for the improvement of dynamic response control measures of the railway bridge
under moving load.
The result shows that the vertical deformation of the bridge at mid span due to the dynamic response of the
railway bridge structures. Therefore the method can be considered as one of the methods to calculate the
dynamic response of simple supported cable bridge. The result has been compared with analytical model which
is studied by different researcher and thus the result of the Finite element model with the analytical model does
not have a significant difference.

5. References
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modeling techniques. Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, 1999.
[2] A. Gupta, A. S. Ahuja. Dynamic Analysis of Railway Bridges under High Speed Trains. Universal Journal of
Mechanical Engineering 2 (6), 2014:199-204.
[3] F. Gabaldón, and F. Riquelme. Design Issues for Dynamic Analysis of High Speed Railway Bridges.2008.
[4] A. Gustafsson. Reduced Models for Dynamic Analysis of High Speed Railway Bridges. 2008.
[5] G. Catania and S. Sorrentino. Dynamic analysis of railway bridges by means of the spectral method. Civil engineering
Topics, volume 4, proceeding of the 29th IMAC Conference on Structural Dynamics, University of Bologna, Italy, 2011:
pp21-29.

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[6] Jing Ji, Wenfu Zhang, Wenyan Zhao, Chaoqing Yuan, Yang Yu. Analysis and Comparison of Dynamic Characteristics
of the Bridge Subjected to Moving Load Based on ANSYS: pp. 159-168.
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Department of Civil Engineering School of Engineering, Polytechnic of Porto, Portugal.
[8] M. Hussein, S. Paul, Y. Zandi, M. E. Arslan. The Behavior of Cable-Stayed Bridges Having Different Cable
Arrangements under Static and Dynamic Loads.
[9] G. T. Michaltsos. A Simplified Model for The Dynamic Analysis of Cable – Stayed bridges. National Technical
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[10] He Zhang and Xu Xie. Dynamic Response of Cable Stayed bridge to Vehicular Loading Including the effects of the
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