2005 Volume 46 Issue 4 Pages 238-243
Base isolation design has been adopted for a large number of bridges to prevent devastating structural damages due to severe earthquakes. In applying such a design to railway structures, however, the dynamic behavior of the track structure that significantly affects the bridge response should be investigated.
In this study, the behavior of the track structure under an earthquake was clarified and modeled through shake table tests. Numerical analyses were then conducted for a real bridge to evaluate the effect of the track structure. It is shown that supplemental damping introduced by the track structure is not negligible and can reduce the responses of piers and bearings simultaneously.