Quantifying Bending Moments in Rail-Transit Concrete Sleepers
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 144, Issue 3
Abstract
With use of concrete sleepers increasing for rail-transit applications in the United States, it is becoming more critical to quantify their revenue service flexural demands to improve sleeper design and maintenance practices. Rail-transit concrete sleeper bending moment field data were collected and processed to address topic areas relating to (1) overall field bending moment magnitude relative to design moments; (2) moment variation from sleeper to sleeper resulting from support conditions; and (3) seasonal variations in moments. Data from field locations on light and heavy rail-transit properties show levels of reserve flexural capacity (factors of safety) that reach as high as 6, significant sleeper-to-sleeper variability attributable to support conditions that can be as high as 100%, and seasonal variation in bending moments that is measurable but far lower than daily variability caused by temperature by a factor of 2. These data provide a valuable baseline for the future generation of mechanistic design standards for track infrastructure components.
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Acknowledgments
This research is primarily funded by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The published material in this report represents the position of the authors and not necessarily that of the DOT. Access to rail-transit infrastructure for testing was provided by St. Louis MetroLink, MTA New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA), and Union Pacific Railroad (operator of Metra’s UP West Line in Chicago), and the authors are grateful for the tremendous support provided by all three organizations. The authors would also like to thank Matt Csenge and Xiao (Sean) Lin for their assistance in conducting field instrumentation. J. Riley Edwards has been supported in part by grants to the UIUC Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) from CN and Hanson Professional Services.
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Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 144 • Issue 3 • March 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 24, 2017
Accepted: Sep 13, 2017
Published online: Jan 10, 2018
Published in print: Mar 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Jun 10, 2018
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