Haparanda Line Railway Bridges, Sweden

RDS were commissioned to investigate proposed train axle weight increase implications for 4no. bridges in northern Sweden. Specificallt, RDS analysed the possibility of an increase from 25 tonnes to 30 tonnes for UNO freight wagons. The bridges assessed included:
– Single track arch barrel reinforced concre culvert spaning 2.5m
– Single track reinforced concrete box culvert spanning 7.0m
– Steel beam and slab compocite structure spanning 21.0m
– Reinforced concrete beam and slab bridge spanning 2.8m

RDS evloped Finite Element models to perform ULS deterministic assessments ofeach structure as presecribed by the relevant standards. As part of an advanced analysis of the proposed load increases, RDS designed Structural Health montiroing systems for each structure and investigated the response of the monitoring data during various load testing regimes. RDS analysed massive amounts of data from LVDTs, strain gauges and accelerometers to ascertain potential damage during the load testing, as well as to evaluate bridge dynamics.