Fatigue stress cycles in service at a steel railway bridge – measuring data versus numerical calculations

Abstract

Within the paper first the details of the studied steel railway bridge and the comprehensive measuring and monitoring program is presented, to get stress histories in individual control sections of relevant bridge members (main girder, bracings) over a measurement period of eight weeks. Based on Rainflow‐counting, measured stress spectra are calculated. In addition, the stress histories of passages with locomotives are shown, with different speeds. The results for walking pace were used to calibrate the presented numerical model of the bridge structure, to calculate stress histories for train passages. The measuring data also allows to quantify the effect of bearing friction in the moveable bearings on the stress histories of the individual bridge members.