Seismic damage evaluation of high-speed railway bridge components under different intensities of earthquake excitations

Abstract

Bridges are common features of high-speed railway infrastructure. However, the performance of such bridges under seismic scenarios has not been well studied. To quantify possible damage levels of bridge components under different intensities of earthquake excitation, a 1/12-scale bridge specimen was constructed and tested using shaking tables. The experimental results of this investigation showed that not all bridge components were damaged when subjected to earthquake with the intensity of 0.20g. A finite element (FE) model of the prototype bridge was also established and validated by the experimental results with consideration of similarity relationships. Finally, parametric studies involving different intensities of earthquake excitation were carried out by the validated modelling approach to study the damage levels of high-speed railway components under more severe earthquakes (i.e. 0.30g, 0.40g and 0.50g). The results could be applied to quantify the levels of damage of the main components of high-speed railway bridges when subjected to earthquake intensities no greater than 0.50g. Moreover, the numerical results showed that the shear reinforcement, fixed bearing and the pier installed with the fixed bearing were more vulnerable to earthquake excitation than the shear studs, slide layer, and cement asphalt mortar layer investigated in this study.