16th global congress on manufacturing and management GCMM 2022 an investigation into rail joint structural design challenges

Abstract

One of the major causes of railway accidents is reported to be unfavourable rail joint conditions. These have resulted in a number of human and financial losses for passengers, rail transport companies and other stakeholders of the railway industry. In railway transportation, the rail end joint is the weakest component mainly due to the abrupt discontinuity of the rail along with the changes of the structure, geometries and other factors such as mechanical properties. Recent studies show that the most widespread defects occur at the bolt-hole and in the upper fillet area of the rail end.This paper specifically investigated the effects of vertical wheel loading on rail end joint using finite element method, ANSYS Workbench Version 19.2. Here the vertical displacement, principal and shear stress at bolt holes are studied in depth. Results indicated that for centre supported joint, the stress nearby the bolt hole is substantially below the ultimate strength (20%), similarly, for the near to support scenario, the stresses around the bolt hole are below the ultimate strength (25%). However, suspended joint experienced large normal displacement along with high stresses around the bolt hole. Hence, it is concluded that for a better performance and more reliable operations of railway tracks, fully center-supported joints are recommended.