Taiwan high speed rail project - viaduct design

This paper examines the design of the high-level viaducts for Contract C270 of the Taiwan high speed rail project. Contract C270 covers Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi counties, an area subject to seismic activity, and includes viaducts over four rivers. The viaduct that crosses the Choshue River, which has a wide river plain, crosses at 28m above the foundation level. The design requirements of the Project Design Specification relating to ride performance, structure response under a significant seismic event and structural capacity under an extreme earthquake are outlined. A span-by-span erection method was selected, using an overhead launching gantry. The superstructure comprises precast, post-tensioned concrete box girders. The design approach adopting capacity design principles to produce a compliant viaduct structure required four different analyses: global analysis, track-structure interaction analysis, foundation analysis and superstructure analysis.