Dynamic interaction between high-speed trains and curved railway bridges

The present paper proposes an original scheme for the dynamic interaction between high-speed trains and curved in-plan railway bridges. The bridge is simulated with the finite element method. The train vehicle is treated as a multibody system. To describe the motion of the vehicle, the study employs a moving trajectory system of reference, with the help of which, the additional centrifugal and Coriolis forces, due to the curved track, are captured. The contact forces between wheels and rails are derived based on a kinematical constraint on the acceleration level. Key feature of the proposed scheme is the matrix character of the formulation, which results in a set of condensed equations of motion. The rail irregularities, the wheel hunting motion and the additional rolling rotation of wheelsets are taken as the system's excitation. The study also considers the track eccentricity with respect to the deck centroid and the track tilting angel.