Effect of frost heave deformation of bridge foundation on operation safety of high-speed railway

The frost heave deformation of the bridge foundation in seasonal frozen soil regions threatens the safe operation of high-speed trains. The first high-speed railway in extremely cold zones, the Harbin-Dalian Line, is used as the background in this study, and finite element analysis (FEA) is used to investigate the impact of freezing temperature and moisture content on the frost heave force and deformation of the bridge foundation. Furthermore, the dynamic response of the train crossing the frost heave deformation region of the bridge foundation is analyzed based on finite element (FE) and multi-body dynamics co-simulation. Conclusively, the frost heave threshold of the bridge foundation is proposed in accordance with the limit of the train’s dynamic response indicators. The results indicate that the normal frost heave stress at the bottom section of the cap is distributed in a “W” shape along the lateral direction of the cap. The magnitude of the stress at the edges of the cap and the inner hole of the pile foundation is relatively large. the frost heave deformation is negatively and positively linked with the fluctuations of temperature and moisture content, respectively. The train's vertical acceleration grows gradually as the pier's upward deformation increases, while there is no discernible relationship between the train’s lateral acceleration and the pier’s upward deformation. Additionally, variations in the train speed and the pier’s upward deformation are positively correlated with the derailment coefficient and wheel load reduction rate. To enable the high-speed railway’s operation safety, it is proposed that the deformation threshold of frost heave be 14.4 mm.