Abstract
In booted sleeper floating track systems wherein the concrete bed, rail, and sleeper are structurally separated, mismatches can occur between the substructure and track owing to deformations. Nevertheless, the mutual behavior between substructures and track systems has not been studied extensively. To address this limitation, the effect of substructure uplift and subsidence on the deformation of a boosted sleeper floating track system installed in a subway box tunnel was analyzed using finite element analysis. A detailed three-dimensional model consisting of all track system components was constructed to determine the interaction between the rail and concrete bed. The sleepers were observed to rotate in response to substructure deformation, and their resulting contact conditions on the concrete bed were analyzed to determine the track status accordingly. The zones of likely tension and shear cracking in the concrete bed were then determined to provide focus areas for track design and maintenance efforts. The results of this study can be used to improve the design and inspection of floating track systems to ensure the safety and functionality of railway tunnels in areas likely to experience uplift or subsidence.
Highlights
The booted sleeper floating track system installed in various sections of South Korea’s urban rapid transit infrastructure comprises resilience pads placed between concrete sleepers and concrete beds to reduce the transmission of train load vibrations to adjacent structures in urban areas
Many studies have investigated the vibration damping effect and dynamic behavior characteristics of sleeper floating track systems, they have generally omitted a thorough examination of the mutual behavior between the substructure and track system [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
An Figure mentThe (FE) analysis was first performed using the same conditions under which the field measurements were collected to verify the suitability of the model; various displacements were applied to the verified model to evaluate the resulting behavior of the sleeper track system
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Costa et al [6] and Esveld et al [7] performed simulations of sleeper floating track systems and compared their results with experimental data for verification, confirming that sufficient track stiffness and strain control are important for ensuring the performance of high-speed railways on soft subgrades Because these two factors (i.e., stiffness and strain) affect the dynamic interaction between the vehicle and the track, the quality of the track geometry, and the service life of the track components, a high track stiffness was found to reduce track deformation, thereby mitigating degradation. The mechanism of interaction between this sleeper floating track system and the supporting substructure was analyzed in this study considering the structural characteristics of the track system This interaction mechanism is illustrated, in which it can be observed that as the subway box tunnel deforms owing to uplift or subsidence, the concrete slab track constructed within is affected in different ways. Dimensional finite element analysis the sleeper floating trackfloating system–substructure substructure performed interaction wasinteraction performedwas in this study. in this study
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
