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cn

Train/Track/Bridge Dynamic Interactions:

Simulation and Applications
W.M. ZHAI*

C.B. CAI

Train & Track Research Institute

Train & Track Research Institute

Southwest Jiaotong University

Southwest Jiaotong University

Chengdu 610031

Chengdu 610031

P. R. of China

P. R. of China

wmzhai@home.swjtu.edu.cn

caxuser@163.com

SUMMARY
This paper describes a numerical simulation technique that is used to investigate the
dynamic train/track/bridge interaction. Two dynamic models are established to
simulate the dynamic responses of a train running on the bridges with the ballasted
track and the non-ballasted slab track, respectively. Effect of the track structure and
the wheel/rail interaction on the system dynamics is considered in the models. The
influence of track random irregularities on train/track/bridge dynamic interactions is
investigated. The proposed simulation technique is applied to practical construction
engineering in the Chinese first special railway line for passenger transport. The
structural design of three extraordinary large bridges with non-ballasted tracks in this
line is evaluated through a detailed simulation in the design stage and results show
that these bridges are able to satisfy the demand of dynamic performance for the
high-speed transport.

IN T R O D U C TIO N

When a train passes through a bridge, vibrations of the train and the bridge structure will be
simultaneously induced, which might affect the comfort of passengers in the train, even threaten to
the running safety of the train. Dynamic train/bridge interactions intensify dramatically with the

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increases of train speeds. Therefore, it is very important to investigate the train-bridge coupled
vibrations in higher operating speeds. For example, it was observed in Chinese railway lines that
some simply supported bridges especially with the span length of 32 m vibrated more strongly than
before, because the operating speeds of trains were raised from 80~100 km/h to 140~160 km/h in
recent years. Some measures for strengthening the bridges are then needed. However, it is not easy to
determine how to strengthen them and what is the most economic way if the dynamic simulation is
not carried out. Another example comes from a Chinas new railway line from Qinhuangdao to
Shenyang, which is now in construction and will become the first special railway line for passenger
transport in China. Because the design speeds of the infrastructure are above 200 km/h, dynamic
performance of vehicles, tracks and bridges on this line is of considerable interest. Simulation of
train/bridge dynamic interactions is necessary so as to enable us to assess the feasibility of the
structural design in advance.
Many studies have been carried out on the analysis of train/bridge interactions for various purposes
[1-4]. The majority of studies have been based on the assumption that the displacement of a wheel is
equal to that of the bridge beam under the wheel. They didnt consider the wheel/rail interface, in
which a wheel might loss its contact with the rail due to track irregularities with short wavelength in
higher speed situation. Besides, these studies didnt consider the dynamic effect of track structures on
the train/bridge interactions. Different tracks, e.g. the ballasted track and the non-ballasted track, may
have different influences on the dynamic performance of the whole train-track-bridge system.
In this paper the track structure will be incorporated to the dynamic model of train/bridge interactions
and the wheel/bridge beam interface will be replaced by the wheel/rail interface. Therefore the
train/bridge dynamic interaction is also called as the train/track/bridge dynamic interaction.

TRAIN/TRACK/BR IDG E I N TERA CTI ON MOD ELS

Two types of models are established to simulate the dynamic train/track/bridge interactions. One is
for the bridges with general ballasted tracks, as shown in Fig.1. Another one is for the bridges with
the special non-ballasted slab track, see Fig. 2. The reason to consider the slab track is that Chinese
Railways (CR) has adopted this type of track structure on two extraordinary large bridges in
Qinhuangdao-Shenyang line and dynamic analysis for these bridges will be performed in the paper as
the application example.

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Fig. 1. Train/track/bridge interaction model I (with ballasted track).

Fig. 2. Train/track/bridge interaction model II (with slab track).

The train is composed of given number of vehicles and each vehicle is modeled as a
10-degree-of-freedom multibody system with the primary and the secondary suspensions. The train is
assumed to run in the horizontal direction at a constant speed (V).
In the track model, the rail is described as a Bernoulli-Euler beam discretely supported at each
fastening point. The slabs are simply modeled as continuous elastically supported beams with free
ends in the vertical plane. In order to consider the dynamic effect of train entering into or leaving
from the bridge [5], general track model [6,7] is taken into account at the two ends of the bridge.
The bridge beams can be described as simply supported Bernoulli-Euler beams with damping.
Generally five spans are sufficient to simulate the dynamic problem of a train traversing a bridge.
However, only three spans are plotted as an example in the Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.
The interface between the train and the bridge is the wheel/rail interface, which can be described by
the non-linear Hertzian contact theory commonly used in vehicle/track interaction problems (see e.g.
[7]):
1

P = (Z w Z r )
G

3/ 2

(1)

where P is the wheel/rail force, G is the Hertzian wheel/rail contact coefficient, Zw and Zr are the
displacements of the wheel and the rail under the wheel.

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NU MER I CAL IMPLEMENTA TION

Equations of motion of the vehicle-track system could be found in [7] and will not be given here. For
the slab track, equation of motion of the slab is given by
Es I s

4 Z s (xs , t )
x s4

+ s

2 Z s (xs , t )
t

+ cs

n0
Z s (xs , t )
= Qsb (xs , t ) + Frsi (t ) ( x s xi )
t
i =1

(2)

where Zs(xs,t) is the vertical displacement of the slab, EsIs is the bending stiffness of the slab, s is
the slab mass per unit length, cs is the slab damping per unit length, Qsb is the force (in per unit
length) between the slab and the bridge beam, Frsi(t) is the rail pad force on the i-th rail support point,
xi is the longitudinal coordinates of the i-th support point, n0 is the number of rail support points on
one slab and (x) is the Dirac delta function.
Equations of motion of the bridge beams in model I and in model II are similar but with little
difference:
For model I:
Eb I b

4 Z b (xb , t )
xb4

+ b

2 Z b (xb , t )
t 2

+ cb

Z b (xb , t ) nk
= Frsj (t ) ( xb x j )
t
j =1

For model II:

4 Z b ( xb , t )
2 Z b ( xb , t )
Z b ( xb , t )
Eb I b
+

+ cb
=
b
4
2
t
xb
t

(3)

ns

Qsbj (xb , t )
j =1

(4)

where Zb(xb,t) is the vertical displacement of the bridge beam, EbIb is the bending stiffness of the
bridge beam, b is the beam mass per unit length, cb is the damping of the bridge beam, nk and ns are
the number of rail support points and number of the slabs on one span of the bridge beam.
Equations (2)(4) are the fourth order partial differential equations and can be simplified to a series
of second order ordinary differential equations by use of the Ritzs method. And then all the
equations for the individual vehicle, track and bridge components are combined to formulate a
coherent set of ordinary differential equations, which can be numerically solved with the direct time
integration methods.
Due to the very high degrees of freedom of the train-track-bridge dynamic system, the application of
conventional time integration methods, such as the Runge-Kutta method, or the Newmark- method,
requires a large amount of computer storage and a long solution time. A new fast explicit time
integration method developed by Zhai [8] is employed to solve such a large system. This method has
been widely applied to the vehicle-track dynamic analysis and proved to be with high computational
efficiency and good accuracy. Use of this integration method, the program for simulating the

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train/track/bridge dynamic interactions can be implemented on common personal computers with

enough fast solution speed.

4
T R ACK RA ND O M IR R EG U LA RI T Y AN D I T S I N F L U E NC E ON
D Y N A MIC T R A I N / T R A C K / BR I D G E I N T E R A CT I O N S
The dynamic interactions between bridge structures and passing trains not only depend on the
property of bridge, such as the span length and the stiffness of the beam, but depend on the track
irregularity as well. Different track irregularities have different influence on the train/track/bridge
interaction.
The track geometric irregularity Z0 can be incorporated in the train-track -bridge interactive system
from the wheel/rail interface:
1

P = (Z w Z r Z 0 )
G

3/ 2

(5)

The track irregularity Z0 could be measured in spatial field. For new lines at the design stage,
however, the track geometry can not be obtained from measurements. Instead, the equivalent track
irregularity spectrum is usually known according to the design standard of the designed line. The
problem is that the spatial spectrum could not be directly input to the train-track-bridge system by
using equation (5). So it is necessary to transform the spatial spectrum in frequency domain into
general geometry variations with the running distance (or in time domain). That is done in the paper
and an example is given below.
Consider the German high-speed track spectrum:
Vertical profile:

S v ( ) =

Av c
2

Cross-level:

S c ( ) =

m2/rad/m

(6)

m2/rad/m

(7)

( + r )( + c )

Alignment:

S a ( ) =

Aa c

( 2 + r )( 2 + c )
2

Av / b c
2

m2/rad/m

(8)

( 2 + r )( 2 + c )( 2 + s )

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6
Z0 (mm)

3
0
-3
-6

100

200

300

400

500

Distance (m)
Fig.3. A sample of high-speed railway track vertical irregularity.

where c=0.8246 rad/m, r=0.0206 rad/m, s=0.438 rad/m, Aa=2.11910-7 mrad, Av=4.03210-7
mrad. By means of some necessary mathematical transformation to equations (6) (8), track
irregularities varied with distance are obtained. Fig.3 shows a sample of the vertical irregularity.
Fig. 4 to Fig.6 illustrates the difference of train-track-bridge system responses when a train passes
through a bridge with and without the track irregularity shown in Fig. 3. The bridge considered is a
simple beam bridge with three spans and the span length is 32 m. The train speed is 250 km/h in this
computation. It can be seen from Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 that the difference is very obvious either for the car
body acceleration (hence the ride comfort) or for the wheel/rail dynamic force. The track irregularity
almost has no effect on the displacement of the bridge beam (Fig. 6), but has some influence on the
bridge acceleration. If no track irregularity is considered in the computation, the acceleration of the
bridge beam at the middle point of a span is 0.507 m/s2, whereas this value will become to be 0.722
m/s2 when the track irregularity is considered.
Fig. 7 and Fig. 8 compare the difference of the dynamic responses induced by irregularities of the
German high-speed track and by irregularities measured at the Chinese fast-speed test track section
on Zhenzhou-Wuchang line. Although the car body acceleration of vehicle on the Chinese test track
is somewhat less than that on the German high-speed track, the wheel/rail dynamic forces on the
1.5

1.0

1.0

0.5

0.5

ac (m/s )

1.5

ac (m/s )

Chinese test track are much larger than those on the later.

0.0
-0.5
-1.0
-1.5

0.0
-0.5
-1.0

100

150
S (m)

200

(a) No track irregularity considered

-1.5

100

150
S (m)

200

(b) Track irregularity considered

Fig. 4. The influence of track irregularity on car body acceleration.

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80

125
100
P (kN)

P (kN)

75

70

75
50

Bridge section with 3 spans

65

100

Bridge section with 3 spans

150
S (m)

25

200

(a) No track irregularity considered

100

150
S (m)

200

(b) Track irregularity considered

-1

-1

Zb (mm)

Zb (mm)

Fig. 5. The influence of track irregularity on wheel/rail force.

-2
-3

-3
-4

-4
-5

-2

-5

T (s)

T (s)

(a) No track irregularity considered

(b) Track irregularity considered

1.5

1.5

1.0

1.0

0.5

0.5
ac (m/s )

0.0

ac (m/s )

Fig. 6. The influence of track irregularity on displacement of bridge beam at middle of span.

-0.5

-0.5

-1.0

-1.0
-1.5
-2.0

0.0

-1.5

Bridge section

100

150

200

250

S (m)

(a) German high-speed track irregularity used

-2.0

Bridge section

100

150

200

250

S (m)

(b) Chinese fast-speed track irregularity used

Fig. 7. Comparison of car body acceleration of train on different tracks.

150

150

100

100

P (kN)

P (kN)

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50
0

50

100

150
S (m)

200

(a) German high-speed track irregularity used

100

150
S (m)

200

(b) Chinese fast-speed track irregularity used

Fig. 8. Comparison of wheel/rail force of train on different tracks.

The above results have indicated the great influence of the track geometry on dynamic
train/track/bridge interactions in high-speed situation. Compared with the influence of track
irregularity, the influence of bridge vibration on the ride quality and on the dynamic wheel load is
much smaller as long as the stiffness of bridge beam is in the normal design range. Otherwise if the
bridge stiffness is not large enough the ride quality of a passing train will be obviously worsen. As an
example, if the bending stiffness of beam decreases by 50%, the car body acceleration of train will be
increased form 1.18 m/s2 (normal case) to 1.69 m/s2.

5.1

A P P L I C A T I ON I N P R A CT I C A L EN G I N E E R I N G

Background of engineering

In 1999 Chinas first special railway line for passenger transport only was put into construction, and
will be built up in 2003. That is Qinghuangdao-Shenyang line, in which there is a 66.8 km long
high-speed test section from Shanhaiguan to Suizhong. The design speed of the whole line is 200
km/h, and in the test section the design speed of the infrastructure is up to 300 km/h. Because this is
CRs first railway line with so high design speeds, the system dynamic behavior, especially the
train-bridge vibration property, becomes one of the most important problems concerned. There are
several bridges located in the high-speed section; among them there are two extraordinary large
bridges, i.e. Shahe Bridge and Gouhe Bridge. Non-ballasted track will be laid on these two bridges.
Another extraordinary bridge that will be laid with non-ballasted track is Shuanghe bridge (beyond
the test section). Fig. 9 shows an example of the configuration of the non-ballasted slab track on a
box-shape beam bridge, in which there is a concrete asphalt layer (CA layer) with the thickness 0f 50
mm under the slab.

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Slab

CA layer

Concrete base
Bridge beam

Fig. 9. System configuration of slab track on bridge.

CR requires the authors to carry out the dynamic simulation of a train passing through these
extraordinary large bridges with high speeds and to give out the evaluation results for the design of
the bridges.

5.2

Parameters of train, track and bridges

Only some basic dynamic parameters can be presented in the paper. Table 1 lists the parameters used
in the vehicle model of the high-speed train.
For the slab track, the rail mass is 60 kg/m, the rail pad stiffness is 60 MN/m, the mass of slab per
unit length is 1115.62 kg/m, the fastening spacing is 0.6 m.
For the bridges, the total length of one bridge is approximately 500 m, the span length is 24 m, the
height of beam is 2.2 m, the moment of inertia of beam cross section is 4.87 m4, and the weight of
beam per unit length is 204.7 kN/m.
Table 1. High-speed train parameters.
Parameter
Power car
unsprung mass (per wheelset)
1900
primary suspended mass (per bogie)
4297
secondary suspended mass
63807
car body mass inertia
1349328
bogie frame mass inertia
4033
primary suspension stiffness (per wheelset)
2.3396
primary suspension damping (per wheelset)
21
secondary suspension stiffness (per bogie)
0.8858
secondary suspension damping (per bogie)
63.75
bogie distance
11.46
wheelbase
3.0
wheel diameter
1.04
static wheel load
98.1

Trailer
1400
3500
47400
1288200
3470
0.55
12
0.4
80
18.0
2.4
0.915
73.6

Unit
kg
kg
kg
kgm2
kgm2
MN/m
kNs/m
MN/m
kNs/m
m
m
m
kN

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5.3

Evaluation standard for running safety and ride comfort of train on

bridge

Table 2 gives the standards used in the simulation for evaluation of the running safety and ride
quality of a train on a bridge. Most of these come from CRs standards. In Table 2, the reduction rate
of wheel load is defined as (P-P0)/P0, where P0 is the static wheel load. CR uses this index as one of
the evaluation indices for the running safety.
Table 2. Evaluation standards used in the simulation.
Evaluation indices
Allowable limit
car body vertical acceleration
1.25 m/s2 (comfortability standard)
ride comfort in Sperling index
3.0
wheel/rail force
300 kN (the design load of slab track)
reduction rate of wheel load
0.65
ratio of displacement to span of beam
1/1800
acceleration of bridge beam
3.5 m/s2

5.4

Simulation results and their evaluation

Dynamic responses of vehicles, tracks and bridges are simulated when a train passes through the
bridges with speeds of 200~300 km/h. The train is composed of one power car and six trailers. Some
examples are given in Fig. 10 to Fig. 13, in which case the train speed is 200 km/h and the bridge
beam is the box-shape one with the slab track on it. The system excitation was input by use of the

ac(m/s2)

1.2

(a)

0.6
0.0
-0.6
-1.2
25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

Sm

ac (m/s2)

1.2
0.6

(b)

0.0
-0.6
-1.2
60

80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240

Sm
Fig. 10. Time history of the car body acceleration. (a)Power car, (b) Trailer

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P (kN)

140
120
100
80
60
25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

Sm
Fig. 11. Time history of the wheel/rail force of the power car.

as (m/s2)

6
3
0
-3
-6
50

100

150

200

250

300

Sm
Fig. 12. Time history of the acceleration of the slab at the middle of span.

Zb (mm)

1
0
-1
-2
-3
50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Sm
Fig. 13. Time history of the displacement of the bridge beam at the middle of span.

Table 3. Simulated results of system dynamic indices.

Evaluation indices
car body acceleration of power car (m/s2)
car body acceleration of trailer (m/s2)
ride comfort index of power car
ride comfort index of trailer
wheel/rail force (kN)
reduction ratio of wheel load
ratio of displacement to span length of bridge beam
acceleration of bridge beam (m/s2)

200 km/h
0.488
1.096
1.834
2.322
121.93
0.236
1/3403
0.45

Train speed
250 km/h
0.521
1.166
2.091
2.663
136.30
0.389
1/3249
1.324

300 km/h
0.646
1.243
2.120
2.642
147.64
0.505
1/3200
1.615

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German high-speed track irregularity shown in Fig. 3. Complete results of the evaluation indices are
given in Table 3.
The above results show that the car body acceleration and the ride comfort index increase as the train
speed increases and do not exceed their allowable limits at the speed range concerned. Furthermore
the ride comfort index is less than 2.75, which means the ride comfort belongs to the grade GOOD
according to the CRs standard. The wheel/rail force fluctuates between 50 150 kN in the range of
speeds from 200 km/h to 300 km/h, which is far less than the maximum value of the design load. The
reduction ratio of wheel load, (P-P0)/P0, increases from 0.236 at speed of 200 km/h to 0.505 at 300
km/h, but still satisfies its safety limit (0.65).
It can also be seen from the simulated results that the evaluation indices for the bridge satisfy the
allowable limits very well, even in the speed of 300 km/h. For example, in this speed the ratio of
displacement to span length of the bridge beam is only 1/3200, far less than 1/1800, and the vertical
acceleration of the beam is 1.615 m/s2, less than 3.5 m/s2, the allowable limit.
Based on the simulation, it is concluded that when the high-speed train runs on the designed
non-ballasted bridges with speeds of 200 300 km/h all the dynamic indices satisfy the evaluation
standards for running safety and ride comfort of the train on the bridge. It has been demonstrated that
the structural design of Shahe, Gouhe and Shuanghe bridges on the Qinghuangdao-Shenyang
fast-speed line is reasonable and feasible.

C ON C L U D I N G R E MA R K S

The paper has presented numerical models for the simulation of dynamic train/track/bridge
interactions. The feature of this study is that the systematical train/track/bridge dynamic model, in
which the effect of the track structure and the wheel/rail interaction on the system dynamics is
included, replaces the conventional train/bridge interaction model.
It has been shown that the track random irregularity has great effect on the train/track/bridge dynamic
interaction, especially in the high-speed operation. The influence of the bridge vibration on the ride
quality of a train on a bridge is not big by comparison with the influence of the track geometry. Thus,
the really existing track random irregularity should be considered in the simulation of the dynamic
train/track/bridge interactions. On the other hand, if the bending stiffness of the bridge beam is not
sufficient large, the bridge may induce big vibration when a train passes over the bridge, and the ride
quality in the train will decrease obviously.
The dynamic simulation technique with the proposed models has been applied to the practical
construction engineering of Chinas first passenger special transport line. The structural design of
three extraordinary large bridges with non-ballasted tracks in this line has been evaluated from the

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dynamic aspect in the design stage. It has been demonstrated that these bridges are able to satisfy the
demand of dynamic performance for the high-speed transport. At present time, these bridges have
already been built and the track structures are now being laid out on the bridges. The first high-speed
running test will be carried out in May of 2002. All the dynamic indices will be measured and then be
compared with the simulated results to validate the simulation method.
By the way, unified software using the presented method is now being designed under the support of
the Ministry of Railways, China, so as to provide a powerful dynamic analysis tool for the design of
bridges on new high-speed lines or fast-speed lines.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research work presented in the paper was finically supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (NSFC), and also by Foundation for University Key Teacher by the Ministry of
Education, China. The application example is a part of the research projects (grant No. 99G06 and
99G16) of the Ministry of Railways, China and the research results have been adopted in the
structural design of Shahe bridge, Gouhe bridge and Shuanghe bridge in Qinhuangdao-Shenyang line.

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