The expansion of the railway network and the increase in operation and maintenance intensity have rendered the durability, applicability and standardization of bridge guardrails key bottlenecks for ensuring personnel safety, improving the efficiency of maintenance windows, reducing the full life cycle cost, and promoting the high-quality development of railways. It is urgent to systematically sort out the domestic technological evolution, quantitatively evaluate the material performance, establish a full life cycle management framework, fill the gaps in the current standards regarding material selection, manufacturing and acceptance, and provide a scientific basis for the formulation of new standards.

(1) Literature and case study research - summarize the application characteristics and failure modes of steel, concrete, and fiber composite materials. (2) Material and process testing - measure the mechanical, corrosion resistance, and aging resistance properties of polyurethane pultruded composite materials. (3) Structural calculation - check the displacement of each railing post and handrail, and verify the safety margin. (4) Standard comparison - identify the gaps between domestic and international standards and the improvement paths.

Polyurethane railings are lightweight, high-strength, weather-resistant, maintenance-free, have minimal deformation and are suitable for coastal and cold regions. Steel railings corrode rapidly, are costly to repaint, and are difficult to maintain. Concrete is prone to cracking, frost peeling and rust expansion, and has a short lifespan. The current standards lack durability indicators, process control and full-life cycle evaluation, which restricts the promotion of new materials.

Establish polyurethane as the preferred option in complex environments;offeroptimization directions for steel and concrete anti-corrosion structures; supplement durability indicators, process key points and cost models, and promote the standardization, lightweighting and long service life of ancillary facilities.

– This study aims to carry out optimization and improvement work on the artificial climate aging and ultraviolet aging tests of elastic expansion joints in railway concrete bridges.

– Three polyurethane elastomer specimens with different chemical compositions were adopted. According to relevant standard regulations, the aging test process was analyzed and evaluated in detail, and reasonable improvement suggestions were put forward. The effectiveness was verified through actual tests.

– The final test results indicate that the combination of artificial climate aging tests and ultraviolet aging tests is technically feasible and has significant advantages in practical applications.

– This study optimizes the conditions of artificial climate aging and ultraviolet aging tests, compares the advantages and disadvantages of different aging test methods, and proposes a combined test scheme of artificial climate aging and ultraviolet aging and verifies its effectiveness. The results provide valuable reference for simulating the actual aging behavior of polyurethane elastomers, material performance evaluation, and application in railway bridge engineering. It is conducive to promoting the reasonable application of this material in engineering, improving engineering quality, reducing costs, and has economic and social benefits.