Sleeper End Resistance of Ballasted Railway Tracks
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 5
Abstract
This paper describes model tests used to investigate how ballast shoulder width and height contribute to a railway sleeper’s resistance to lateral movement for a range of shoulder widths and heights. Deflection and resistance were measured and photographs taken during the tests. The photographs were analyzed using a digital image correlation technique to identify the zones of ballast surface disturbance, which demonstrated that a bulbed failure volume was mobilized at the ultimate limit state. An idealized three-dimensional failure mechanism is proposed, and resistances are calculated using the limit equilibrium approach. The calculation provides a reliable estimate of the measured resistance. The work identifies the optimum shoulder width and height. The calculations are extended to demonstrate that when a number of sleepers are moved simultaneously, the sleeper end resistance may be one-third less per sleeper than that indicated in tests on an isolated sleeper. Image analysis and limit equilibrium calculations show that this is caused by overlapping of mobilized failure volumes from adjacent sleepers.
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Acknowledgments
The writers are grateful for the financial support of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). This work was made possible by combining techniques developed in two separate EPSRC grants: (1) “Development and role of structure in railway ballast,” EP/F062591/1 and (2) “Micro-Mechanical Behaviour of Locked Sands,” GR/T22896/01. The writers also acknowledge and thank research students Sinthuja Aingaran and Sharif Ahmed for their contributions related to the development and use of scaled ballast.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 5 • May 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 6, 2013
Accepted: Dec 17, 2013
Published online: Jan 13, 2014
Published in print: May 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Jun 13, 2014
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