Ermüdungsprobleme prismatischer, trogförmiger Eisenbahnbrücken mit dicken Tragblechen und deren Bewältigung

Fatigue problems of prismatic hutch-shaped railroad bridges with thick plates and their handling

The assumption of a non deformable cross-section at the calculation of prismatic hutchshaped railroad bridges without stiffening elements except for the bearing crossbeam is not in principle tolerable. An investigation with the Generalized Beam Theory (GBT) revealed that constructions of that kind due to high transverse bending do not necessarily achieve the sought fatigue security. In order to provide simple means for multiple choices of parameters, a GBT-based approximation procedure, implemented in Microsoft Excel, was developed which calculates transverse bending stresses very accurately. It appeared that increasing the web plate thickness solves the problem, so that the advantages of the investigated bridge type concerning height of construction, assembly and installation persist.