Design of semi-integral and integral high-speed railway bridges – Experiences with the Gruben Viaduct and Gaensebach Viaduct

摘要

In the course of one of the biggest infrastructure developments of the German Railway AuthorityrnDeutsche Bahn AG after the German reunification, the New High-Speed Railway line VDE8rn(Verkehrsprojekt Deutsche Einheit Nr. 8) connecting the cities of Nuremberg and Berlin, severalrninnovative bridge structures have been designed and built or are currently under construction, respectively.rnA special feature of these bridges is the use of continuous, multi-span pre-stressed concrete girdersrnas well as the waiving of structural bearings for the support of the superstructure. Instead of bearings,rnmonolithic connections of the substructure and the superstructure are used in order to improvernrobustness and to reduce maintenance cost. These bridge types are therefore called “integral” orrn“semi-integral” bridges, the latter, since these bridges have bearings only at the abutments.rnIntegral and semi-integral railway bridges for high-speed railway traffic raise several technical challengesrnand furthermore a couple of additional approval procedures. Among the technical challengesrnsuch as proof of rail-stresses for longer bridges, proof of dynamical stability under design speed,rnand fatigue behaviour of monolithic connections need particular attention and handling.rnThe experiences made in the field of the design and the construction of semi-integral high-speedrnrailway bridges shall be demonstrated on the basis of two bridges, which were designed by schlaichrnbergermann und partner, the new Grubental Bridge and the new Gaensebachtal Bridge.