Condition monitoring of bearings in a viaduct

Abstract

The bearings used under the viaducts of the mass rapid transit system are of the sealed type. Though this type of bearings is useful in preventing the elastomer from exposure to ultraviolet light and the elements, it has the drawback of preventing the visual inspection of the physical condition of the elastomer. By measuring the end displacements of the viaduct, we could correlate the peak-to-peak displacements with the elasticity of the elastomer of the bearings used. Analysis shows that the ballast stiffness has very little influence over the end displacements, and the variations of the end displacements are more affected by the stiffnesses of the bearings than the variation in passenger load.