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The influence of structural response on ballast performance on a high speed railway

The influence of structural response on ballast performance on a high speed railway
The influence of structural response on ballast performance on a high speed railway
Track for modern ballasted high speed railway lines typically uses continuous welded rail with continuous ballast. Continuous ballast is often specified over features involving discontinuity of track support including structural movement or expansion joints found in long railway bridges. Accelerated degradation of track geometry has been observed at these types of location, resulting in unplanned maintenance. A location was identified on a viaduct of an operational high speed railway, where a reoccurring track defect develops just following a structure expansion joint which was designed for continuous ballast. Trackside monitoring techniques have been used to capture the response of the track in the vicinity of the defect and of the bridge spans on either side of the structure expansion joint under normal operational conditions and to evaluate a typical maintenance process. This gave insight into the performance of the track, demonstrating that the defect was due to voiding and recurring as maintenance was ineffective at filling these voids. Monitoring also provided evidence of bridge behaviour which could have an adverse effect on the ballast over the joint and may be responsible for the original formation of the defect. Evidence from this monitoring has given new insights into the reasons for defect occurrence and recurrence allowing for a more informed approach to specifying maintenance, given the knowledge that there is little that can be done to alter the behaviour of the viaduct structure without major intervention.
Milne, D.
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Le Pen, L.
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Powrie, W.
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Thompson, D.J.
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Watson, G.V.R
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Morley, S.
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Hayward, M.
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Milne, D.
96efcc03-ba68-4870-819d-9b5433b208c7
Le Pen, L.
4a38e256-d113-4bba-b0d4-32d41995928a
Powrie, W.
600c3f02-00f8-4486-ae4b-b4fc8ec77c3c
Thompson, D.J.
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Watson, G.V.R
a7b86a0a-9a2c-44d2-99ed-a6c02b2a356d
Morley, S.
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Hayward, M.
d2a0646b-5038-46cb-8281-96b3b3dd67fe

Milne, D., Le Pen, L., Powrie, W., Thompson, D.J., Watson, G.V.R, Morley, S. and Hayward, M. (2014) The influence of structural response on ballast performance on a high speed railway. International Conference on High Speed Rail, Birmingham, United Kingdom. 08 - 11 Dec 2014. 8 pp .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Track for modern ballasted high speed railway lines typically uses continuous welded rail with continuous ballast. Continuous ballast is often specified over features involving discontinuity of track support including structural movement or expansion joints found in long railway bridges. Accelerated degradation of track geometry has been observed at these types of location, resulting in unplanned maintenance. A location was identified on a viaduct of an operational high speed railway, where a reoccurring track defect develops just following a structure expansion joint which was designed for continuous ballast. Trackside monitoring techniques have been used to capture the response of the track in the vicinity of the defect and of the bridge spans on either side of the structure expansion joint under normal operational conditions and to evaluate a typical maintenance process. This gave insight into the performance of the track, demonstrating that the defect was due to voiding and recurring as maintenance was ineffective at filling these voids. Monitoring also provided evidence of bridge behaviour which could have an adverse effect on the ballast over the joint and may be responsible for the original formation of the defect. Evidence from this monitoring has given new insights into the reasons for defect occurrence and recurrence allowing for a more informed approach to specifying maintenance, given the knowledge that there is little that can be done to alter the behaviour of the viaduct structure without major intervention.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 30 November 2014
Published date: 3 December 2014
Venue - Dates: International Conference on High Speed Rail, Birmingham, United Kingdom, 2014-12-08 - 2014-12-11
Organisations: Infrastructure Group

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 373769
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/373769
PURE UUID: c0456c7c-3745-4bc2-8cb8-8c485aac9bee
ORCID for L. Le Pen: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4362-3895
ORCID for W. Powrie: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2271-0826
ORCID for D.J. Thompson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7964-5906
ORCID for G.V.R Watson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3074-5196

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Date deposited: 27 Jan 2015 16:28
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:24

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Contributors

Author: D. Milne
Author: L. Le Pen ORCID iD
Author: W. Powrie ORCID iD
Author: D.J. Thompson ORCID iD
Author: G.V.R Watson ORCID iD
Author: S. Morley
Author: M. Hayward

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