Structural and Material Characterisation of Insulated Rail Joints
Insulated rail joints are designed in a similar way to butt jointed steel structural systems, the difference being a purpose made gap between the main rail members to maintain electrical insulation for the proper functioning of the track circuitry at all times of train operation. When loaded wheels...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Electronic Journals for Science and Engineering - International
2013-01-01
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| Series: | Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ejsei.com/EJSE/article/view/163 |
| _version_ | 1797733636713218048 |
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| author | N. Zong D. Wexler M. Dhanasekar |
| author_facet | N. Zong D. Wexler M. Dhanasekar |
| author_sort | N. Zong |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Insulated rail joints are designed in a similar way to butt jointed steel structural systems, the difference being a purpose made gap between the main rail members to maintain electrical insulation for the proper functioning of the track circuitry at all times of train operation. When loaded wheels pass the gap, they induce an impact loading with the corresponding strains in the railhead edges exceeding the plastic limit significantly, which lead to metal flow across the gap thereby increasing the risk of short circuiting and impeding the proper functioning of the signalling and broken rail identification circuitries, of which the joints are a critical part. The performance of insulated rail joints under the passage of the wheel loading is complex due to the presence of a number of interacting components and hence is not well understood. This paper presents a dynamic wheel-rail contact-impact modelling method for the determination of the impact loading; a brief description of a field experiment to capture strain signatures for validating the predicted impact loading is also presented. The process and the results of the characterisation of the materials from virgin, in-service and damaged insulated rail joints using neutron diffraction method are also discussed.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:30:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aa0298196dbc42efb4657d0f626cabc4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1443-9255 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:30:54Z |
| publishDate | 2013-01-01 |
| publisher | Electronic Journals for Science and Engineering - International |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering |
| spelling | doaj.art-aa0298196dbc42efb4657d0f626cabc42023-08-29T10:27:38ZengElectronic Journals for Science and Engineering - InternationalElectronic Journal of Structural Engineering1443-92552013-01-0113110.56748/ejse.131631Structural and Material Characterisation of Insulated Rail JointsN. Zong0D. Wexler1M. Dhanasekar2Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology Insulated rail joints are designed in a similar way to butt jointed steel structural systems, the difference being a purpose made gap between the main rail members to maintain electrical insulation for the proper functioning of the track circuitry at all times of train operation. When loaded wheels pass the gap, they induce an impact loading with the corresponding strains in the railhead edges exceeding the plastic limit significantly, which lead to metal flow across the gap thereby increasing the risk of short circuiting and impeding the proper functioning of the signalling and broken rail identification circuitries, of which the joints are a critical part. The performance of insulated rail joints under the passage of the wheel loading is complex due to the presence of a number of interacting components and hence is not well understood. This paper presents a dynamic wheel-rail contact-impact modelling method for the determination of the impact loading; a brief description of a field experiment to capture strain signatures for validating the predicted impact loading is also presented. The process and the results of the characterisation of the materials from virgin, in-service and damaged insulated rail joints using neutron diffraction method are also discussed. https://ejsei.com/EJSE/article/view/163Beam-columnsJointsConcreteSteelFinite element analysis |
| spellingShingle | N. Zong D. Wexler M. Dhanasekar Structural and Material Characterisation of Insulated Rail Joints Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering Beam-columns Joints Concrete Steel Finite element analysis |
| title | Structural and Material Characterisation of Insulated Rail Joints |
| title_full | Structural and Material Characterisation of Insulated Rail Joints |
| title_fullStr | Structural and Material Characterisation of Insulated Rail Joints |
| title_full_unstemmed | Structural and Material Characterisation of Insulated Rail Joints |
| title_short | Structural and Material Characterisation of Insulated Rail Joints |
| title_sort | structural and material characterisation of insulated rail joints |
| topic | Beam-columns Joints Concrete Steel Finite element analysis |
| url | https://ejsei.com/EJSE/article/view/163 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nzong structuralandmaterialcharacterisationofinsulatedrailjoints AT dwexler structuralandmaterialcharacterisationofinsulatedrailjoints AT mdhanasekar structuralandmaterialcharacterisationofinsulatedrailjoints |