Evaluating the performance of different sleeper shapes and materials
Evaluating the performance of different sleeper shapes and materials
Sleepers are conventionally designed in a cuboid shape of similar volume regardless of the material of construction. However, the bending stiffness and load transfer into the track bed is material dependent; and modifying the shape of sleepers by making use of advances in manufacturing ability could improve load transfer characteristics. A parametric study was performed on 6 different shapes of concrete and composite sleepers resting on 4 different types of support to understand which shape works best with each the different support condition. The sleeper shapes and support conditions were modelled using two methods (1) a 2D beam on elastic foundation formulation solved by the finite difference numerical method and (2) a 3D finite element method. Comparison of the results demonstrated that the 2D FDM method was able to reliably predict important characteristics of behaviour – the deflection, pressure and bending moment profiles. The FDM was then used to compare the performance of the different sleeper shapes. The sleeper performance was evaluated for least differential deflection and pressure considering the volume of material used and the lowest range of bending moments present. The overall differential deflection was greater for the composite sleepers than for concrete, but greater improvements were observed for the optimised composite sleeper shapes. The difference between the negative and positive bending moments reduced as the height of the middle section of the sleeper increased and the support in the middle part increases. On average, sleeper with a larger bending stiffness in the middle performed better.
sleeper, composite, finite difference method, finite element method, railway
Rampat, Toshan, Chandr
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Le Pen, Louis
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Powrie, William
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Harkness, John
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Zervos, Antonios
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1 July 2019
Rampat, Toshan, Chandr
451de6b7-4597-4ac4-94ef-7bdf46beb575
Le Pen, Louis
4a38e256-d113-4bba-b0d4-32d41995928a
Powrie, William
600c3f02-00f8-4486-ae4b-b4fc8ec77c3c
Harkness, John
026f02e8-41d9-403f-83be-0d880058ecf1
Zervos, Antonios
9e60164e-af2c-4776-af7d-dfc9a454c46e
Rampat, Toshan, Chandr, Le Pen, Louis, Powrie, William, Harkness, John and Zervos, Antonios
(2019)
Evaluating the performance of different sleeper shapes and materials.
In Railway Engineering-2019: 15th International Conference & Exhibition.
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
Sleepers are conventionally designed in a cuboid shape of similar volume regardless of the material of construction. However, the bending stiffness and load transfer into the track bed is material dependent; and modifying the shape of sleepers by making use of advances in manufacturing ability could improve load transfer characteristics. A parametric study was performed on 6 different shapes of concrete and composite sleepers resting on 4 different types of support to understand which shape works best with each the different support condition. The sleeper shapes and support conditions were modelled using two methods (1) a 2D beam on elastic foundation formulation solved by the finite difference numerical method and (2) a 3D finite element method. Comparison of the results demonstrated that the 2D FDM method was able to reliably predict important characteristics of behaviour – the deflection, pressure and bending moment profiles. The FDM was then used to compare the performance of the different sleeper shapes. The sleeper performance was evaluated for least differential deflection and pressure considering the volume of material used and the lowest range of bending moments present. The overall differential deflection was greater for the composite sleepers than for concrete, but greater improvements were observed for the optimised composite sleeper shapes. The difference between the negative and positive bending moments reduced as the height of the middle section of the sleeper increased and the support in the middle part increases. On average, sleeper with a larger bending stiffness in the middle performed better.
Text
sleeper_shapes_2019
- Author's Original
More information
Published date: 1 July 2019
Keywords:
sleeper, composite, finite difference method, finite element method, railway
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Local EPrints ID: 434411
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/434411
PURE UUID: 14b8e06a-196c-4298-b9c8-b29c9eb67c23
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Date deposited: 23 Sep 2019 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:03
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Author:
Toshan, Chandr Rampat
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