Eisenbahnüberführung Simmerbach – Pilotprojekt in VFT‐Rail‐Bauweise mit externer Bewehrung

Abstract

Die DB Netz AG hat das erste Brückenbauprojekt in Verbundbauweise mit externer Bewehrung auf der Strecke Bingen–Saarbrücken erstellt und erste Erfahrungen gesammelt. Die neuartige Bauweise sieht einen Überbau im Prinzip der direkten Schienenbefestigung vor. Die Tragstruktur ist ein Querschnitt mit externer Bewehrung aus Walzträgern, die durch Verbunddübel mit dem Fertigteil schubfest verbunden ist. Nur eine Wochenendsperrpause stand bei diesem Pilotprojekt zur Verfügung, um die 140 Jahre alten Stahltrogbrücken zu ersetzen. Gleichzeitig wurden die Auflagerbänke der Pfeiler‐ und Widerlager erneuert. Seit Ende Oktober 2011 rollt der Verkehr über die beiden neuen Überbauten mit je 12,75 m Spannweite.Report on the railway overpass Simmerbach, Germany – Pilot project in VFT‐Rail construction method with external reinforcement. The German Railway Company DB Netz AG put the first bridge structure using a composite structure with external reinforcement into operation and is gaining experience on the railway link Bingen‐Saarbrücken. The new construction method implements a superstructure based on the non‐ballast slab‐track system. The structure contains a cross‐section with external reinforcement manufactured out of rolled sections which are fixed to the precasted element by composite dowels.The close‐off interval of one weekend was available for that project to replace the 140 years old trough bridges out of steel. The pier head and the support part of the abutments were renewed contemporaneously. The two innovative superstructures with a span of 12,75 m each have been in service since end of October 2011.

The model for a general composite section resulting from the introduction of composite dowels

“…1. Bridges using composite dowels and their respective composite sections: a) bridge P11 constructed in Romania [21], b) bridge PE4 constructed in Poland [21], c) "Simmerbach" bridge constructed in Germany [22], d) bridge over the River Łososina in Poland [21], e) viaduct in Kuchl, Austria [21], f) viaduct WD4 on S5 road near Bydgoszcz, Poland [21] atively small compared with the longitudinal force T as long as the inclination angle remains relatively small. The inclination angle is deliberately denoted a, contrary to the inclination angle denoted θ in Eurocode 2 [30] -the value of an a angle is much smaller than θ, but, actually, both angles describe the same phenomenon, creating an important topic of current study.…”

Condition monitoring of VFT‐Rail® slab‐track railway bridges

“…This additional external reinforcement is needed to carry compression forces, as the active concrete cross-section is reduced by the channels, providing space for the rails. Composite action between steel girders and concrete is realized by composite dowels (MCL250/115 geometry [3]). Shear reinforcement is placed in cut-outs between the steel dowels according to [4].…”

The evolution of the shape of composite dowels

“…This shear connection is currently being proceeded to obtain European Technical Specification (consistent with rules of Eurocode 4), and appropriate rules have been proposed by the project team SC4.T1 [52], and for purposes of this work, a list of papers considered as "background documents" for the design procedure of composite dowels are investigated and referenced. The list contains publications that include design guides [8,16,23], practical applications (bridges) [2,18,[36][37][38][39][40][41][42], and research [5,6,7,9,13,14,17,20,21,22,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. One can compare this list, which was compiled from the point of view of the author from Poland, with the papers being referenced in German publications [3] to obtain a wide and objective point of view (the first bridges were designed in these two countries as a cooperation between the first two co-authors).…”