Interaction between Track and Long-Span Cable-Stayed Bridge: Recommendations for Calculation

Geometric nonlinearity (GN) and initial internal forces (IIFs) are the basic characteristics of cable-stayed bridges, but now there is no effective method for analyzing the effect of them on bridge-track interaction of continuous welded rail (CWR) on cable-stayed bridge. A method for reconstructing the displacement-force curve of ballast longitudinal resistance was put forward according to the deformation of cable-stayed bridges under the completed bridge state. A feasibility study on the method was conducted via two aspects of the force and deformation of CWR on a 5 × 40 m single-line simple-supported beam bridge with initial deformation. With the multi-element modeling method and the updated Lagrangian formulation method, a rail-beam-cable-tower 3D calculation model considering the GN and IIFs of cable-stayed bridge was established. Taking a (140 + 462 + 1092 + 462 + 140 m) twin-tower cable-stayed bridge as an example, the impacts of GN and IIFs on bridge-track interaction were comparatively analyzed. The results show that the method put forward to reconstruct ballast longitudinal resistance can prevent the impact of initial deformation of bridge and makes it possible to consider the effect of IIFs of cable-stayed bridge on bridge-track interaction. The GN and IIFs play important roles in the calculation of rail longitudinal force due to vertical bending of bridge deck under train load and the variance of cable force due to negative temperature changes in bridge decks and rails with rail breaking, and the two factors can reduce rail longitudinal force and variance of cable force by 11.8% and 14.6%, respectively. The cable-stayed bridge can be simplified as a continuous beam bridge with different constraints at different locations, when rail longitudinal force due to positive temperature changes in bridge deck and train braking is calculated.