Journal of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering

Journal of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering

Seismic Vulnerability Assessment and Development of Analytical Fragility Curves for Railroads

Document Type : Structural Earthquake Engineering

Authors
IIEES
Abstract
In a highly seismic country like Iran, safety of lifeline systems is of utmost importance. Thus, in order to develop reliable systems that can withstand severe earthquakes, railroad tracks should be properly designed and maintained. A useful tool for the assessment of structures under earthquake is fragility curves. For railroad tracks, which are designed to withstand landslides, liquefaction, etc., i.e. disasters other than earthquakes, an empirical approach is used to establish fragility curves with specific values for critical deformations. An analytical approach provides an attractive alternative and is used here. In order to make a large number of required analyses possible, a macro-element is developed and used for modeling the track system. In this model, the ballast and subgrade are represented by nonlinear springs. Fragility curves presented here are for different types of ties and roadbed properties. The results indicate that lighter ties (wood) will result in much lower seismic forces in the system than heavy (concrete) ties.
Keywords

Volume 14, Issue 4 - Serial Number 4
Winter 2013
Pages 251-262

  • Receive Date 29 September 2014
  • Accept Date 26 December 2020
  • Publish Date 01 January 2013