Dynamic behavior of pergola bridge decks of high-speed railways

This paper analyzes the dynamic behavior of the deck of pergola bridges affected by moving loads, specifically high-speed trains. Due to their characteristic advantages, pergola bridges have become a widely used structural typology on high-speed railways. In spite of such wide-spread use, there are few technical bibliographies published in this field. The first part of this paper develops a simple analytical methodology to study the complex dynamic behavior of these double dimensional structures. The second part compares the results obtained by the proposed formulae and the dynamic response obtained with different and gradually more complex FE models. The results obtained by the analytical model are in close agreement with those obtained by the FE models, demonstrating its potential application in the early design stages of this kind of structure.