The influence of sleeper material characteristics on railway track behaviour: concrete vs composite sleeper
The influence of sleeper material characteristics on railway track behaviour: concrete vs composite sleeper
Composite sleepers and bearers formed of polymers and sometimes steel or fibre reinforcement are an alternative to traditionally used timber or prestressed concrete counterparts. Composite materials offer the combined benefits of the compliant sleeper/ballast contact of timber with the longer service life of concrete. However, composite and timber sleepers have lower bending stiffness compared with concrete, and this affects their track performance. To better understand the influence of sleeper material on performance, a concrete and a composite sleeper were tested in the Southampton Railway Testing Facility. Test results were interpreted with the aid of finite difference and discrete element method numerical modelling. It was found that composite sleepers can provide a more compliant sleeper/ballast interface with increased numbers of ballast grain contacts of larger area that attenuate the peak contact forces. However, owing to their lower bending stiffness, they have more exaggerated deflection profiles and a tendency to become centre-bound compared with stiffer prestressed concrete counterparts.
ballast, composite, concrete, dem, railroad, railway, sleeper
Ferro, Edgar
1887ec10-c712-43fc-9b2f-2ca76786dbd7
Harkness, John
026f02e8-41d9-403f-83be-0d880058ecf1
Le Pen, Louis
4a38e256-d113-4bba-b0d4-32d41995928a
June 2020
Ferro, Edgar
1887ec10-c712-43fc-9b2f-2ca76786dbd7
Harkness, John
026f02e8-41d9-403f-83be-0d880058ecf1
Le Pen, Louis
4a38e256-d113-4bba-b0d4-32d41995928a
Ferro, Edgar, Harkness, John and Le Pen, Louis
(2020)
The influence of sleeper material characteristics on railway track behaviour: concrete vs composite sleeper.
Transportation Geotechnics, 23, [100348].
(doi:10.1016/j.trgeo.2020.100348).
Abstract
Composite sleepers and bearers formed of polymers and sometimes steel or fibre reinforcement are an alternative to traditionally used timber or prestressed concrete counterparts. Composite materials offer the combined benefits of the compliant sleeper/ballast contact of timber with the longer service life of concrete. However, composite and timber sleepers have lower bending stiffness compared with concrete, and this affects their track performance. To better understand the influence of sleeper material on performance, a concrete and a composite sleeper were tested in the Southampton Railway Testing Facility. Test results were interpreted with the aid of finite difference and discrete element method numerical modelling. It was found that composite sleepers can provide a more compliant sleeper/ballast interface with increased numbers of ballast grain contacts of larger area that attenuate the peak contact forces. However, owing to their lower bending stiffness, they have more exaggerated deflection profiles and a tendency to become centre-bound compared with stiffer prestressed concrete counterparts.
Text
Ferro_et_al_2020_eprints
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 22 February 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 24 February 2020
Published date: June 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This study was jointly supported by Horizon 2020 European Union Funding for Research and Innovation (In2Rail H2020-MG-2014, 635900) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council ( EPSRC ) through the programme grant Track to the Future ( EP/M025276/1 ). The authors would also like to thank Network Rail, SEKISUI and Dr Günther Koller for their support, and Dr Antonis Zervos for initially developing and kindly sharing the beam on elastic foundation finite difference numerical tool used.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
Keywords:
ballast, composite, concrete, dem, railroad, railway, sleeper
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 438403
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/438403
ISSN: 2214-3912
PURE UUID: 08d60ecf-d528-4ea7-b5bb-9ec05e4c9794
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Date deposited: 09 Mar 2020 17:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:22
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Author:
Edgar Ferro
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