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On the Load-Carrying Capacity Determination of Railway Box-Girder Bridges Using the Reduced Stress Method Cover

On the Load-Carrying Capacity Determination of Railway Box-Girder Bridges Using the Reduced Stress Method

Open Access
|Mar 2026

Figures & Tables

Figure 1:

Bridge 1: a longitudinal view at the part of multi-span bridge

Figure 2:

Bridge 1: cross section of the box-girder superstructure BR1

Figure 3:

Bridge 2: a location on a local railway line (left); cross section of the box-girder superstructure BR2 (right)

Figure 4:

Bridge 3: a view of the bridge from below (left); cross section of the box-girder superstructure BR3 (right)

Figure 5:

FEA model of BR1: a) superstructure model; b) detail of mesh in support area; c) separated modelled stiffeners and diaphragms; d) model of track together with model of superstructure

Figure 6:

FEA model of BR2 (top) and BR3 (bottom): a) model of superstructure BR2; b) cross-section of FEA model BR2; c) model of superstructure BR3 together with model of track; d) detailed view on the model of superstructure BR3

Figure 7:

Example of dividing the cross-section of superstructure BR3 into relevant parts valid for the assessment

Figure 8:

Example of extracting stresses in any section or in any plate (results in the case of superstructure BR3): a) equivalent main stresses in section; b) isopalette of equivalent stresses; c) section results in the form of stress components

Figure 9:

Example of calculated buckling shapes for the webs under relevant load combinations: a) BR1, web at midspan area, αcr = 4.12; b) BR1, web at the area near support, αcr = 4.62; c) BR3, vertical web of side box at the area near support, αcr = 5.86; (at the top: views from outside the structure; at the bottom: views from inside the cross-section)

Figure 10:

Example of iterative assessment in a predefined point of the assessed panel (BR1)

Overview of limiting load-carrying capacities for each analysed superstructure

BridgePoint / detailStressZLM71Note
BR1bottom point of the webplanar stress0.85resistance
weld of centric stirrup to top flangenormal stress range0.46fatigue
BR2top flange near the webplanar stress1.02resistance
weld of diaphragm to main top flangenormal stress range0.69fatigue
BR3bottom point of main webplanar stress1.02resistance
weld of diaphragm to main webnormal stress range1.25fatigue
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/cee-2026-0021 | Journal eISSN: 2199-6512 | Journal ISSN: 1336-5835
Language: English
Page range: 259 - 271
Submitted on: Aug 24, 2025
|
Accepted on: Sep 8, 2025
|
Published on: Mar 24, 2026
Published by: University of Žilina
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 2 issues per year

© 2026 Jaroslav Odrobiňák, Josef Vičan, Richard Hlinka, Jozef Prokop, Branislav Vavák, published by University of Žilina
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.