Development of Dead Weight Compensation Device for Improving Anti-catastrophe Performance of Viaducts

Abstract

Railway structures may be severely damaged if the intensity of an earthquake is beyond the design motion. Even in this situation, significant loss of life and long-term suspension of train operations could be avoided if complete collapse of the structure is prevented. This capacity is referred to as "anti-catastrophe" in Japanese design standards. In order achieve this capacity, a new "dead weight compensation" device is proposed. The dynamic loading tests are conducted using a shaking table, on which a viaduct model with the device is mounted. It was confirmed that the proposed device was capable of preventing total collapse of the specimen under extreme motion.