Structural response of monoblock railway concrete sleepers and fastening systems subject to coupling vertical and lateral loads: A numerical study

Influence of coupling vertical and lateral loads on the centre negative flexural behaviour of prestressed monoblock concrete sleepers

“…The remnant lateral force imparted to the centre sleeper, which is equal to 15.88 kN (17.08% of the total lateral wheel load), is transferred through lateral contact force at the rail-angled guide plate interface (more details about this point are supplied by El-sayed et al). 5,7 The residual proportion of lateral load applied to the rail is transferred in the form of friction force and equally distributed between the two sleepers adjoint to the middle one (sleepers’ number −1 and 1). The lateral force at sleepers’ number −2 and 2 is slight and negative.…”

“…This loading pattern contributes to a significant deterioration of the railway track components, including prestressed monoblock concrete sleepers (PMCS). 4,5 In the previous investigations, [5][6][7][8] the influence of lateral loads on the formation of rail seat abrasion (the highest-ranked failure mechanism of PMCS in North America) 4 due to localized stresses at the concrete surface was thoroughly analysed. The results expressed in these studies, however, showed that the loading nature changes at the rail seat area under coinciding vertical and lateral loading compared to the vertical loading case in a form that could have a significant impact on the flexural stress of PMCS, particularly at midspan sections.…”

Sleepers Spacing Analysis in Railway Track Infrastructure

“…The feasibility of increasing the sleeper distance without jeopardising the safety of the track will be analysed by modelling a reference case, followed by parametric studies to analyse the effects on various track configurations, on the track displacements, stresses, and strains. Numerical models have helped in numerous applications to railways, in track transition structures analysis [1][2][3]7,[18][19][20][21][22], in evaluating the structural analysis of the variable railway gauge [23], or to evaluate the slab track (asphalt), as in [24]. Although the model uses real parameters and the mechanical properties of the materials, a similar model was validated in [25].…”

“…Recent studies have analysed the structural response of monoblock railway concrete sleepers and fastening systems under vertical and lateral loads [18]. Here, the researchers present a three-dimensional finite element railway model to study the structural response of concrete sleepers and the fastening system.…”

Numerical Investigation of Pre-Stressed Reinforced Concrete Railway Sleeper for High-Speed Application

“…• the consideration of changing the strength and elastic moduli of concretes during the lifespan of the sleepers [38]; • investigation of transition zones between significantly different vertical stiffnesses [39,40]; • examination of the crack growing in concrete sleepers [17][18][19][20]23,24,36,38,41]; • investigation of settlements of ballasted tracks with increased sleeper space [42]; • taking into consideration the noise and/or vibration reduction with different sleepers [27]; • development of RC sleepers for a 40 ton axle load [22]; • examination of environmentally friendly production technology [43]; • investigation of fault production of RC sleepers and the possible reasons for it [44]; • development and analysis of RC sleepers of tramway tracks [31]; • analysis of the debonding effect of twin-block slab tracks [45]; • investigation of the 3D modeling of RC sleepers with the consideration of static, dynamic, and impact loads [30,31,33,35,38,[40][41][42]46,47]; • analysis of the features of the stress-strain state of the dual gauge track with a special design of reinforced concrete sleepers with the simultaneous fastening of four rails [48].…”