The use of anti-vibrating bearings in the Taiwan High ... - Alga S.p.A.

5. Test resultsSeveral tests has been performed to adjust the performance of the devices on prototypes and toassure the quality of the installed bearings.All the tests have been performed in ALGA’s laboratory that is equipped with static and dynamicequipment suitable to apply loads up to 50000 kN. The test performed were of three different types:• Prototype tests that aimed to adjust through a trial and error procedure the rubber compound andthe geometry of the devices until the required dynamic stiffness has been reached. Several rubbercompounds and several geometries with different number and thickness of rubber layers havebeen tested statically and dynamically until the optimum solution was reached.• Dynamic production tests, in order to verify the dynamic stiffness of the antivibrating bearingduring the current production. The dynamic tests have been performed pre-loading statically thebearings with a load corresponding to the permanent one for a period of one hour and thenapplying a sinusoidal load corresponding to the live load effect. This procedure has beenfollowed in order to avoid creep effects that would have been shown applying the sinusoidal loadwithout pre-loading. The dynamic tests have been performed on approximately 5% of theproduced bearings• Quick production tests. This kind of tests have been performed in accordance with EN 1337-3for 100% of the manufactured bearings. The aim of these test was to verify that the static verticalstiffness was in line with the expected one and to prevent any possible vulcanisation defect onthe bearings to be installed in the bridges.A detail of a bearing during the test and a typical output of the dynamic tests are shown in figures 9and 10.3200315031003050Load (kN)30002950290028502800275027002,3 2,35 2,4 2,45 2,5Deflection (mm)Fig. 9 Detail of an antivibrating bearingduring a dynamic testFig. 10: Typical output of a dynamic test5. ConclusionThe application of antivibrating bearings described in this paper is probably the most important oneever utilised for a High Speed Rail in the world and represent a very innovative solution to protectthe surrounding areas from the vibrations.The success of the application has been possible thanks to a very extensive program of preliminaryresearch and testing and to a very severe quality control during the production phase.