EFFECTS OF TRACK STRUCTURES ON SEISMIC BEHAVIOR OF RAILWAY BRIDGES SUPPORTED BY ISOLATION RUBBER BEARINGS

Abstract

 To evaluate the seismic behavior of railway bridges supported by isolation rubber bearings, it is important to clarify the dynamic interactions between the continuous track structures and the bridges. Shaking table tests were implemented with a part of real size slab track structures and the dynamic constraining force by the track structures during the earthquake was investigated. Then a non-linear hysteresis model of that constraining force was proposed. Furthermore, the effects of the track structures on the seismic behavior of bridges were studied by nonlinear dynamic response analyses with the use of the proposed model. As a result, it was confirmed that the seismic response of the bridge piers and the rubber bearings vary about 10 - 20% with the effect of track structures.