Abstract
The UK is home to a very expansive railway network. The network includes a significant number of bridges that were constructed in the Victorian era. The aim of this study is to estimate the remaining lifespan of a unique aged railway bridge, the Windsor Railway Bridge in the UK. This research encompassed several steps: analysis of past and current traffic, prediction of future traffic trends, fatigue life analysis, estimation of lifespan consumption and estimation of remaining fatigue life. The finite-element analysis results showed that the most highly stressed members in the structure were the arch stringer and arch vertical bracing. By using the finite-element method together with the cumulative fatigue theory, these members are predicted to have failed in 5-7 years' time, depending on the future traffic trends. Under a less conservative design class, some members are shown to have already failed sometime in the 1920s. It is found that a number of major conservative design assumptions were made. The failure mode and mechanism of the aged railway bridge are highlighted in this paper.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 153-162 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Forensic Engineering |
Volume | 171 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 13 May 2019 |
Keywords
- computational mechanics
- fatigue,
- history
- mathematical modelling
- railway systems
- service life
- steel structures