Effect of steel ratio on behavior of Continuously Reinforced Concrete Railway Track under environmental loads

Abstract

The effects of the steel ratio on the slab behaviors such as tensile stresses and crack widths of the Continuously Reinforced Concrete Railway Track (CRCT) under environmental loads were numerically investigated in this study. Two different approaches were considered to find the steel ratio effects. One was to use different steel bar sizes without changing steel bar locations and the other was to use different numbers of steel bars with rearranging steel bar locations. The analysis results showed that the tensile stresses and crack widths under environmental loads at a certain location of the slab were directly affected by the steel bars placed nearby. As the steel ratio increased by increasing the steel bar size at the top of the slab, the maximum tensile stresses increased and the crack widths decreased. When the steel ratio was changed by placing different numbers of steel bars, the maximum tensile stresses increased and the crack widths decreased as the localized steel ratio at the top of the slab increased regardless of the steel ratio of the entire slab. Therefore, crack occurrence that is directly related to the maximum tensile stresses and corresponding crack widths under environmental loads could effectively be controlled by the steel bar arrangement at the top of the slab.