Numerical analysis of ship–bridge collision's influences on the running safety of moving rail train

Abstract

This paper investigates the ship–bridge collision process and its influences on the running safety of the moving light rail train. Taking a long span cable-stayed bridge across the Huangpu River as example, the 3-D dynamic model of train-bridge coupled system subjected to ship impact was studied with the aid of the finite element analysis (FEA) code LS-DYNA 971. The bridge model and the coupled rigid–flexible multi-body train model were coupled through non-linear wheel–rail interface, and the coupled dynamic model was solved using mixed time explicit integration approach. By studying the effects of train speed and the momentum of impacting ship on the running safety of the rail train, the relationship between the maximum safety speed of the train and the momentum of the impacting ship is predicted, that is, the maximum allowable train speed decreases with the increase of the momentum of the impacting ship. The mixed time integration method could speed up the calculation process for crashworthiness analysis with great differences in element sizes at different parts of model.

Keywords:

• coupled train–bridge system
• ship–bridge collision
• running safety
• non-linear numerical analysis
• mixed time integration

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Shanghai Urban Construction Design and Research Institute for technical support.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by National High Technology Research and Development Program of China [grant number 2012AA01AA307] and National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 11272214].