Effect of reverse bending deformation of large-spancable-stayed bridge on ballastless tracks' behaviors

Abstract

Laying ballastless tracks on large-span cable-stayed bridge is a new challenge, and it is particularly important due to the obvious advantages of ballastless track and the high requirements of high-speed railways. Under the complex load conditions in service, cable-stayed bridges have a variety of beam local deformations, and they inevitably affect the performances of the ballastless tracks laid on the bridge. In this work, a series of experimental studies and FEM simulations are carried out based on a large-span cable-stayed bridge and its segmental model. The main conclusions include: Under the most unfavorable reverse bending deformation of the large-span cable-stayed bridge, tensile and compressive deformations occurred at interlayers of the ballastless tracks with different isolation layers. The interlayer deformation variations of the ballastless tracks with EPDM or geotextile isolation layers are the same, and the deformation values of the ballastless tracks with EPDM isolation layers are larger than that of the ballastless tracks with geotextile isolation layers. However, due to the pre-compression of the EPDM isolation layer subjected to its upper structures' deadweight, it can reduce the influences of the reverse bending deformation on the ballastless tracks, and the gaps and voids at ballastless track interlayers can be avoided. Furthermore, the 5.92 m length ballastless tracks with EPDM isolation layer is recommended to apply on the large-span cable-stayed bridge in high-speed railway to ensure the reliability and durability of the ballastless tracks.