Bridge Construction

Bridge construction is one of the most demanding disciplines in civil engineering. Due to the long design periods of 100 years, a large number of cyclical stresses occur over the service life of the bridge. This arises from bridge-specific traffic loads (road or rail), but also from recurring environmental influences. In cooperation with external partners, the current load on road bridges and the corresponding effects on the existing bridges are investigated using measuring systems (weight motion).

Partners: panta ingenieure, Niedersächsische Landesbehörde für Straßenbau und Verkehr

In the course of the expansion of the railway network of Deutsche Bahn AG, expansion measures for high-speed traffic are planned in sections. For this purpose, all existing bridges are currently being tested for their suitability for high-speed traffic. Due to the higher speeds of the trains passing over, the bridge structures are subjected to significantly higher-frequency excitation stresses. This significantly increases the risk of resonance phenomena and the resulting (fatigue) stress. In the company-specific guideline RiLi 804, Deutsche Bahn AG specifies when detailed investigations of dynamic behaviour are necessary and when these may be dispensed with. The main criterion for this is the permissible travel speed of the structure vü. If a dynamic calculation is required, an extremely large modelling/calculation effort is required. The simulation of train crossings is based on ten different high-speed load models (HSLM) and further specific load models for e.g. ICEs. For each relevant load model, the different travel speeds of the speed range to be approved must be dynamically simulated and compliance with the acceleration and deformation limits in the vertical direction checked.