Assessment of Steel Railway Bridges for Wind and Traffic Load Effects

Abstract

<p>The paper describes the final results of the project focused on the assessment of the existing railway bridges with respect to the wind load and traffic load in both ultimate limit state and equilibrium limit state. The outcomes of the project are based on extensive wind tunnel testing. Detailed probabilistic and reliability study is presented in this contribution using the wind tunnel data, and available railway traffic and wind speed data for a given location. The main result is a set of reduction factors for wind forces acting on specific railway bridge types and rail vehicles and calibrated combination factors for simultaneous action of unloaded train and wind in equilibrium limit state.</p>