Noise prediction of a steel-concrete railway bridge using a FEM
Regular paper
Peutz bv
Wednesday 3 june, 2015, 14:20 - 14:40
0.1 London (90)
Abstract:
In order to expand the motorway A1 the existing concrete railway bridge of the
line Amsterdam-Almere has to be replaced. To predict the noise of the trains on
the bridge, vibration calculations were conducted with a finite element method
(FEM). In order to calibrate the simulations, noise and vibrations measurements
from a similar steel-concrete railway bridge were used to validate a FEM model
of the reference bridge. To meet the noise requirements the new bridge design
has been optimized, based on the measurements and calibrated calculations of the
reference bridge. In order to achieve the maximum amount of space for the layout
of the motorway, a single span bridge is required. The bridge is situated near
dwellings. According to the noise requirements set by the legislator the noise
of the trains on the bridge has to be equal to or lower than the noise of the
trains on a standard railway track. Due to the large span and strict noise
requirements a steel-concrete bridge design was chosen, consisting of steel
girders and arches and a concrete deck. The rails are fastened on concrete
sleepers resting on track ballast. Between the concrete slab and the ballast
layer a so called ballast mat is located in order to decouple the train induced
vibrations from the concrete deck.