Investigation of horizontal forces result in railway viaduct with curved truck

In the report some investigations of bridge structure, connected with the adaptation of the railway line to speeds up to 200 km/h for conventional trains and up to 250 km/h for tilting trains were presented. A railway track is the characteristic feature of tested viaduct, because the truck is curved over the whole length of span with radius of R = 2600 m. The tests of the viaduct required the verification of influence of the dynamic effects on the ultimate limit states which corresponded to the safety of structure, as well as the serviceability limit states, related to the safety of driving and the travellers’ comfort. In frames of investigations, a special train comprised of two locomotives and four passenger cars, was used with speeds in the range between 10 and 200 km/h. The report focuses on the problems addressing the influence of horizontal actions in the case of bridge with curved truck. The measurements of the horizontal and vertical displacements as well as the accelerations of span, and the speed of crossing test train were executed. The measured and theoretically calculated chosen courses of displacements and accelerations were introduced. The degree of divergence between measured and calculated values was analysed.