Fatigue Life Assessment of Intercity Track Viaduct Based on Vehicle–Bridge Coupled System

Abstract

During the long-term operation of an urban railway viaduct, it is subjected to multiple cyclic loads caused by the movement of a vehicle. As a result, the fatigue life of the bridge should be fully considered during the design process. Furthermore, the bridge structure will be subject to environmental corrosion for an extended period of time, resulting in concrete carbonization and reinforcement corrosion, which aggravates the bridge structure’s fatigue damage. To compensate for the disadvantage of the traditional static analysis method’s inability to consider vehicle speed, a vehicle–bridge system coupled model is established, material corrosion is considered, railway bridge damage under vehicle load is analyzed, and the service life of common 30 m and 25 m span bridges is calculated. The results show that ignoring corrosion will understate the bridge damage, and vehicle speed has a significant impact on bridge fatigue life. Finally, the recommended operating speeds for 30 m span and 25 m span bridges are provided.