Dynamic analysis of railway bridges by means of the spectral method

This study investigates the dynamic behaviour of railway bridges crossed by travelling trains, modelled by the spectral method. The adopted simplified formulation is aimed at allowing a direct analysis of the effects of the parameters involved in the problem. The bridge is modelled as a rectangular plate, while the trains are modelled as travelling inertial distributed loads. The formulation is accomplished by the use of the Rayleigh-Ritz method, yielding a low order model with time-dependent coefficients. Several numerical examples are presented and discussed, aimed at investigating the effects of each of the model governing parameters.