Determination of Material Properties of Composite Sleepers Taking into Account Operational Factors

Abstract

The physical and technical properties of the material of composite sleepers can be varied in a wide range, which formulates the problem of determining their rational values that provide the most favorable conditions for the operation of the railway track and rolling stock. The solution of this problem lies on the way of assessing the influence of technological factors on the material properties of composite sleepers, which was solved by method of planning of active experiments, in which the variable factors were the parameters characterizing the properties of sleepers, seasonality of their operation, as well as the rails and fastening system used, and the response functions describing the characteristics of the stress-strain state of the “roadbed – ballast bed – sleeper – rail – rolling stock” system. The relations between the material properties of composite sleepers and the operational conditions of the railway track were studied during constant parameters characterizing the type of rolling stock (locomotive VL-80) moving at a speed of 80 km/h in a curve with a radius of 350 m.