Raipur Bridge

Rail Structure Interaction (RSI) Validation For Bridge No. 176 Between Khariar-Nawapara Stations (East Coast Railway - India)

Overview of the Structure:

This bridge is constructed on the river with Pre-stressed concrete ‘I’ Girder supported on the circular pier. The overall length of the bridge is 36.60 m comprising 3 spans of each 12.20 m.

Scope of Work:

Scope of work includes finding out the following parameters. Maximum horizontal displacement of the deck due to longitudinal loads. Relative displacement between rail and deck due to longitudinal loads. Additional tensile and compressive stresses in rails due to thermal loads in summer. Finding out the Maximum displacement in the deck due to rotation. Maximum vertical displacement of the deck at ends. Numerical Modelling and analysis. Generation of Finite element model using MIDAS.

Objective:

The rail structure interaction study is carried out to workout forces induced on rails, and bridge components due to interaction effects and assess the safety due to these interaction forces on CWR. The interaction takes place due to the expansion or contraction of the deck and rails under a change of temperature, longitudinal deformation of the sub-structure under braking, tractive forces from rolling stock, and vertical bending/flexure of the deck under live loads. SWR allows movements freely under thermal and live load effects whereas the rails as part of CWR don’t allow free moments and hence a separate analysis is required for the study of interaction forces is required.