Railway track design & degradation
The long-term behaviour of railway track has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Improvements in long-term structural performance reduce demands for maintenance and increase the continuous availability of railway lines. The focus of this paper is on the prediction of the sensitivity of a...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
EDP Sciences
2018-01-01
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| Series: | MATEC Web of Conferences |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201821111006 |
| _version_ | 1819183103840616448 |
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| author | Sadri Mehran Lu Tao Zoeteman Arjen Steenbergen Michaël |
| author_facet | Sadri Mehran Lu Tao Zoeteman Arjen Steenbergen Michaël |
| author_sort | Sadri Mehran |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The long-term behaviour of railway track has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Improvements in long-term structural performance reduce demands for maintenance and increase the continuous availability of railway lines. The focus of this paper is on the prediction of the sensitivity of a track design to long-term deterioration in terms of track geometry. According to the state of the art literature, degradation is often investigated using empirical models based on field measurement data. Although a rough maintenance forecast may be made employing empirical models, the predictions are not generic, and the physical processes which govern track degradation under train operation remain unclear. The first aim of this study is to present a mathematical model to elucidate the underlying physics of long-term degradation of railway tracks. The model consists of an infinitely long beam which is periodically supported by equidistantly discrete sleepers and a moving unsprung mass which represents a travelling train. The mechanical energy dissipated in the substructure is proposed to serve as a measure of the track degradation rate. Secondly, parametric studies on energy dissipation are conducted to identify effects of various track design parameters on the susceptibility of the track to degradation, as well as the effect of the train speed. It has been shown that the track/subgrade stiffness is the most influential parameter on degradation whereas other system parameters do influence the degradation rate but at lower magnitudes. The conclusions can be used to optimise the track design in the early stage for better long-term structural performance of railway tracks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T22:56:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-394b2dcee72246b98e3fb5169955a97e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2261-236X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T22:56:42Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | EDP Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | MATEC Web of Conferences |
| spelling | doaj.art-394b2dcee72246b98e3fb5169955a97e2022-12-21T18:09:47ZengEDP SciencesMATEC Web of Conferences2261-236X2018-01-012111100610.1051/matecconf/201821111006matecconf_vetomacxiv2018_11006Railway track design & degradationSadri MehranLu TaoZoeteman ArjenSteenbergen MichaëlThe long-term behaviour of railway track has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Improvements in long-term structural performance reduce demands for maintenance and increase the continuous availability of railway lines. The focus of this paper is on the prediction of the sensitivity of a track design to long-term deterioration in terms of track geometry. According to the state of the art literature, degradation is often investigated using empirical models based on field measurement data. Although a rough maintenance forecast may be made employing empirical models, the predictions are not generic, and the physical processes which govern track degradation under train operation remain unclear. The first aim of this study is to present a mathematical model to elucidate the underlying physics of long-term degradation of railway tracks. The model consists of an infinitely long beam which is periodically supported by equidistantly discrete sleepers and a moving unsprung mass which represents a travelling train. The mechanical energy dissipated in the substructure is proposed to serve as a measure of the track degradation rate. Secondly, parametric studies on energy dissipation are conducted to identify effects of various track design parameters on the susceptibility of the track to degradation, as well as the effect of the train speed. It has been shown that the track/subgrade stiffness is the most influential parameter on degradation whereas other system parameters do influence the degradation rate but at lower magnitudes. The conclusions can be used to optimise the track design in the early stage for better long-term structural performance of railway tracks.https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201821111006 |
| spellingShingle | Sadri Mehran Lu Tao Zoeteman Arjen Steenbergen Michaël Railway track design & degradation MATEC Web of Conferences |
| title | Railway track design & degradation |
| title_full | Railway track design & degradation |
| title_fullStr | Railway track design & degradation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Railway track design & degradation |
| title_short | Railway track design & degradation |
| title_sort | railway track design degradation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201821111006 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sadrimehran railwaytrackdesigndegradation AT lutao railwaytrackdesigndegradation AT zoetemanarjen railwaytrackdesigndegradation AT steenbergenmichael railwaytrackdesigndegradation |