Rail Structures 1

[anominal]

At our firm we haven't done much bridge design for the rail world.

I'm fairly new to the crew myself and I've already spent hours in AREMA.

Project Specific Question:
The Live Load deflection criteria and Impact Loading correlate to member length. If the member being analyzed is continuous over more than two supports, how is L defined?

General Question:
Does anyone have any good reference material for railway bridges, like a "rule of thumb" reference.

 

[cntw1953]

I think there must be some excellent studies on impact for continuously supported members, however, as a frequent rail passengers (daily trips), I prefer the designer took conservative approach to select the longest span in between two supports to determine the impact. If it is not the most conservative approach, please correct me.

 

[Ron]

"L" is between supports, continuous or not.