Dynamics of wind-rail vehicle-bridge systems

An analytical model for dynamics of wind-vehicle-bridge (WVB) systems is presented in this paper in the time domain with wind, rail vehicles and bridge modeled as a coupled vibration system. The analytical model considers many special issues in a WVB system, which include fluid-solid interaction between wind and bridge, solid contact between vehicles and bridge, stochastic wind excitation on vehicles and bridge, time dependence of the system due to vehicle movement, and effect of bridge deck on vehicle wind load and vice versa. The models of wind, vehicles and bridge are presented with wind velocity fluctuations simulated using the simplified spectral representation method, with vehicles modeled as mass-spring-damper systems, and with bridge represented by a finite element model. The interactions between wind and bridge are similar to those considered in conventional buffeting analysis for long span bridges. In considering difficulties in measuring aerodynamic coefficients of moving vehicles on bridge deck, the cosine rule is adopted for the aerodynamic coefficients of moving vehicles to consider yaw angle effect, and expressions of wind forces on moving vehicles are then derived for engineering application. To include mutual effects of wind loads, aerodynamic parameters of vehicles and bridge deck are measured, respectively, using a composite section model test and a specially designed test device. The dynamic interaction between vehicle and bridge depends on both geometric and mechanical relationships between wheels of vehicles and rails on the bridge deck. The equations of motion of the coupled WVB system are derived and solved with a nonlinear iterative procedure. A cable-stayed bridge in China is finally selected as a numerical example to demonstrate dynamic interaction of the WVB system. The results show the validity of the present model as well as wind effects on the rail vehicles and the bridge.