Experimental Investigation on Effect of Winged Sleeper on Lateral Resistance of Ballasted Track

Continuously welded rails are a common remedy to prevent rail defects, including railhead batter, rail cracking or breakage, and lateral displacement of track, among others. However, at curves with a radius of less than 400 m, rail welding is practically impossible due to the lack of track lateral resistance. Therefore, finding a new method to increase the track lateral resistance is necessary to facilitate rail welding, especially on tracks with steel sleepers. This study proposes a new method of increasing the lateral resistance of a ballasted track with steel sleepers by using web stiffeners. The effect of such stiffeners is investigated through a comparison with tracks having regular steel sleepers. The single tie (sleeper) push test is used in this research. The results of the experimental investigations show that the lateral resistance increases by 24, 140, and 203 percent, respectively, with the use of one, two, and three web stiffeners under the steel sleeper compared with a steel sleeper without stiffeners. Thus, the use of two stiffeners is concluded to provide enough lateral resistance in the case of older tracks. Therefore, the welding of rails at tight curves becomes conceivable.

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Suggestion for allowable additional compressive stress based on track conditions

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part F Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit ◽

10.1177/0954409717720838 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 232 (5) ◽

pp. 1309-1325 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kyung-Min Yun ◽

Beom-Ho Park ◽

Hyun-Ung Bae ◽

Nam-Hyoung Lim

Keyword(s):

Compressive Stress ◽

Structural Characteristics ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Additional Stress ◽

Analysis Model ◽

Temperature Changes ◽

Lateral Resistance ◽

Ballasted Track ◽

Continuous Welded Rail ◽

Track Bridge

A continuous welded rail has immovable zones due to its structural characteristics. In an immovable zone, thermal expansion and contraction of rails are restricted when the temperature changes, thereby causing excessive axial force on the rail. When the immovable zone of the continuous welded rail is located on a bridge, additional stress and displacement occur through track–bridge interactions. Additional stress and displacement of the rail compared to the embankment area are restricted when constructing the bridge under the continuous welded rail track to prevent problems with the track–bridge interaction according to UIC 774-3R and Euro codes. According to the various codes, the maximum allowable additional compressive stress is 72 MPa, with the conditions of a curve with a radius (R) ≥ 1500 m, UIC 60 continuous welded rail (tensile strength of at least 900 MPa), ballasted track with concrete sleepers and 30 cm of deep for a well-consolidated ballast. However, the lateral resistance that has the greatest effect on track stability can depend on the conditions mentioned above. Therefore, an additional review of various track conditions is required. In this paper, an evaluation of the current criteria was performed using the minimum buckling strength calculation formula, and the allowable additional stress on the rail suggested by codes could only be used on tracks with a large lateral resistance above 18 kN/m/track. Thus, a three-dimensional nonlinear analysis model was developed and analyzed to calculate the allowable additional compressive stress considering various track conditions. According to the results of the analysis, the allowable additional compressive stress was reduced with a comparatively small lateral resistance. The freedom of design can be enhanced with respect to the parameters of various track and bridge conditions using this model.

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Experimental investigation into ground vibrations induced by very high speed trains on a non-ballasted track

Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering ◽

10.1016/j.soildyn.2015.02.002 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 72 ◽

pp. 24-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 90

Author(s):

Wanming Zhai ◽

Kai Wei ◽

Xiaolin Song ◽

Minghe Shao

Keyword(s):

Experimental Investigation ◽

High Speed ◽

Ground Vibrations ◽

Ballasted Track ◽

High Speed Trains ◽

Very High

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A new field investigation on the lateral and longitudinal resistance of ballasted track

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part F Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit ◽

10.1177/0954409718764190 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 232 (8) ◽

pp. 2138-2148 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Saeed Mohammadzadeh ◽

Morteza Esmaeili ◽

Fatemeh Khatibi

Keyword(s):

Field Study ◽

Field Investigation ◽

Test Track ◽

Lateral Resistance ◽

Longitudinal Stiffness ◽

Wide Range ◽

Ballasted Track ◽

Good Consistency ◽

Southwest Region ◽

Longitudinal Resistance

Track buckling is a complicated phenomenon that is caused by a wide range of parameters including the nature of track loading and the lateral and longitudinal resistance of a track. In this paper, the results of a field study on a test track in the Aprin railway station (in the southwest region of Tehran city) are presented to investigate the lateral and longitudinal resistance of the ballasted track. The lateral resistance of the track is measured by using both the single tie (sleeper) push test and the sleeper lateral pull test, and the results of the two methods are found to be compatible. The contributions of the ballast shoulder, crib, and the base part in the total lateral resistance are obtained for the loose and compacted ballast conditions, which showed good consistency with the presented data of literature. The longitudinal resistance is measured by using an innovative setup prepared on the test track. The measured longitudinal stiffness per sleeper is approximately twice of what was measured in the previous studies on track panels. The measured longitudinal stiffness during the unloading process is found to be 40% of the loading stiffness.

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Experimental and numerical analysis of anchor-reinforced sleepers lateral resistance on ballasted track

Construction and Building Materials ◽

10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.120197 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 264 ◽

pp. 120197

Author(s):

Guoqing Jing ◽

Yameng Ji ◽

Peyman Aela

Keyword(s):

Numerical Analysis ◽

Lateral Resistance ◽

Ballasted Track

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Curved Ballasted Track-Vehicle Dynamic Interaction: Effects of Curve Radius and Track Structural Nonlinearity

Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics ◽

10.1115/1.4050953 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Liu Pan ◽

Lei Xu ◽

Xianmai Chen ◽

Zixu Zhu

Keyword(s):

Dynamic Performance ◽

Body System ◽

Vehicle Dynamic ◽

Lateral Resistance ◽

Structural Nonlinearity ◽

Ballasted Track ◽

Statics And Dynamics ◽

Curved Track ◽

Nonlinear Performance ◽

Curve Radius

Abstract In this work, a model for characterizing the ballasted track-vehicle interaction is presented. The vehicle is modelled as a multi-rigid-body system consisting of a car body, two bogie frames and four wheelsets, and the track is modelled by finite elements including the rail, the sleeper and the track bed. All bodies are connected by spring-dashpot elements. With novelty, the geometric nonlinearity of curved rail beam and mechanical nonlinearity of ballasted bed lateral resistance have been fully considered. Besides, numerical solution procedures including iteration and increment have been also developed to accurately clarify the dynamic nonlinear performance of vehicle-track systems. Apart from model validations in statics and dynamics, the influence of track nonlinearity and curved track radius on vehicle-track dynamic performance has been revealed in detail.

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