Simulation of time-dependent behaviour in prestressed concrete sleeper

Author(s):  
Dan Li ◽  
Sakdirat Kaewunruen ◽  
Ruilin You
Climate ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Li ◽  
Sakdirat Kaewunruen

Railway networks are exposed to various environmental conditions. It is thus critical that infrastructure components can tolerate such effects by design. Railway sleepers are a critical safety component in ballasted track systems. Prestressed concrete is currently the most common material for railway sleepers due to its superior advantages in structural performance, low maintenance, sustainability, and construction. In practice, many prestressed concrete sleepers are installed in harsh environments that are subject to various changes in climate. Environmental conditions are, therefore, one of the most critical phenomena affecting the time-dependent behaviour of prestressed concrete sleepers. Hence, the impact of climate changes on the serviceability of railway infrastructure needs to be thoroughly investigated. Temperature and relative humidity are crucial aspects that have not been sufficiently studied so far with reference to prestressed concrete sleepers embedded in track systems. This study aims to investigate the effects of extreme climatic conditions on the performance and time-dependent behaviour of prestressed concrete sleepers using contemporary design approaches. The issue concerning the effects of climate uncertainties on creep and shrinkage is rigorously investigated on the basis of both environmental temperature and relative humidity. The outcome indicates that environmental conditions play a vital role in the time-dependent behaviour of prestressed concrete sleepers. The insights will be essential for assessing the long-term serviceability of prestressed concrete sleepers that have been installed in railway lines and are subjected to extreme environmental conditions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 1826
Author(s):  
Heyam H. Shaalan ◽  
Mohd Ashraf Mohamad Ismail ◽  
Romziah Azit

Shotcrete is ordinary concrete applied to the surface under high pressure. It demonstrates a highly time-dependent behaviour after few hours of application. Traditional approaches assume a simple linear elastic behaviour using a hypothetical young modulus to investigate the time-dependency and creep effects. In this paper, a new constitutive model of shotcrete is applied to evaluate the time-dependent behaviour of a TBM tunnel lining and investigate the parameters that can influence this behaviour. The Shotcrete model is based on the framework of Elasto-plasticity and designed to model shotcrete linings more realistically. The basic data of Pahang-Selangor Raw Water Transfer Project is used for the analysis study. An attempt is made to investigate the influence of some input parameters of the shotcrete model on the time-dependent behaviour of the shotcrete lining. These parameters include the time-dependent stiffness/strength parameters, creep and shrinkage parameters and steel fibre parameters. The variation in shotcrete strength classes causes a noticeable influence on the development of shotcrete compressive strength with time, particularly during the first days of application. The creep and shrinkage strain cause a considerable reduction in the development of the shotcrete stress with time. The impact of steel fibre content is determined, and the result indicated that the development of plain shotcrete stresses with time is lower than that of the reinforced shotcrete. In addition, a comparison study is performed to analyse the tunnel lining behaviour using both shotcrete model and an elastic analysis. Significant differences in shotcrete lining stresses are achieved when using the elastic analysis while the shotcrete model results in a reasonable result that can be used for the design requirements. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajeswara R. Resapu ◽  
Roger D. Bradshaw

Abstract In-vitro mechanical indentation experimentation is performed on bulk liver tissue of lamb to characterize its nonlinear material behaviour. The material response is characterized by a visco-hyperelastic material model by the use of 2-dimensional inverse finite element (FE) analysis. The time-dependent behaviour is characterized by the viscoelastic model represented by a 4-parameter Prony series, whereas the large deformations are modelled using the hyperelastic Neo-Hookean model. The shear response described by the initial and final shear moduli and the corresponding Prony series parameters are optimized using ANSYS with the Root Mean Square (RMS) error being the objective function. Optimized material properties are validated using experimental results obtained under different loading histories. To study the efficacy of a 2D model, a three dimensional (3D) model of the specimen is developed using Micro-CT of the specimen. The initial elastic modulus of the lamb liver obtained was found to 13.5 kPa for 5% indentation depth at a loading rate of 1 mm/sec for 1-cycle. These properties are able to predict the response at 8.33% depth and a loading rate of 5 mm/sec at multiple cycles with reasonable accuracy. Article highlights The visco-hyperelastic model accurately models the large displacement as well as the time-dependent behaviour of the bulk liver tissue. Mapped meshing of the 3D FE model saves computational time and captures localized displacement in an accurate manner. The 2D axisymmetric model while predicting the force response of the bulk tissue, cannot predict the localized deformations.


1997 ◽  
Vol 488 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Grossmann ◽  
T. Weyrauch ◽  
W. Haase

AbstractWe report on a method to investigate the inhomogeneous distribution of an electric dc field in multilayer polymer stacks. In situ electroabsorption (EA) measurements are applied in order to estimate the local electric fields in double layer polymer films. The observed time dependent behaviour is compared with a model equivalent circuit. The results indicate that besides the relation of ohmic resistivities and capacities of the different polymer layers in the investigated systems also the influence of the electric properties of polymer/electrode and polymer/polymer interfaces must be considered.


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