Abstract
The interspersed railway track is an enhanced timber railway track, spot-replacing damaged wooden sleepers with new concrete sleepers to improve the bearing capacity of existing railway lines. Although this interspersed solution is characterised by low cost and short maintenance time, the interspersed tracks have worse stability than concrete tracks and can deteriorate quickly when exposed to extreme weather conditions such as heavy rains and floods. In many cases, heavy rains and floods are accompanied by strong winds. Ballast washaway can often be observed under flood conditions while the mass of trains is unevenly distributed on two rails due to the effect of lateral wind load and rail irregularities. The current work is the first in the world to investigate the collective multi-hazard effects of ballast washway and uneven axle loads on the vulnerability of conventional and interspersed railway tracks using nonlinear FEM software, STRAND 7. The train bogie is modelled by two sets of point loads. The maximum displacement, bending moment and twists have been studied to evaluate the worst condition. The novel insights will help the railway industry develop proper operations of interspersed railway tracks against naturally hazardous conditions.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.