High-speed Railway Bridges

The need for large-scale bridges is constantly growing worldwide, as the expansion of transport infrastructures with rail roads and high-speed lines is an important current task in many regions. This book develops all aspects referring to the structural conceptional design and analysis that are taken into account when planning a bridge or viaduct for a high-speed rail line. That includes the characteristics of the railway traffic such as speeds, actions, limit states, etc., and a detailed analysis of the superstructure of the track with its various components and singular elements. One of the special features of the book is that it not only highlights the bridge typologies and structural components related to the bridge design but also takes into account the issues of the track construction. The design basis, the requirements from different situations, and solutions are given. Special attention is paid to the interactions between the structure and the track and to the dynamic nature of railway actions, studying the dynamic response of the structure and its influence on the behaviour of the track and its components as well as on safety, traffic flow quality, and maintenance needs. The particulars of the design of high-speed rail bridges located in seismic areas are included as well. Numerous examples in all chapters serve the book's character as a useful guide to HSR bridge design, and to prevent typical problems and errors. An appendix with selected HSR bridges built worldwide completes the work. With this work the authors provide first-hand experience gained from many years of planning of completed bridges for high-speed rail lines.