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R. Sañudo¹, J.N. Varandas² S. Ricci³, J. Pombo⁴, V. Markine⁵ and B. Alonso¹

¹SUM+LAB, Transport Department, University of Cantabria Santander, Spain
²CERIS, Civil Engineering Department, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
³Departament of Civil, Environmental and Building, La Sapienza Universitá di Roma, Rome, Italy
⁴Institute of Railways Research. University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom
⁵Section of Road and Railway Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, TU Delft, The Netherlands

Keywords: railway track, track design, sleeper spacing, numerical analysis.

Abstract

The sleepers and fastenings are the most numerous elements of the superstructure of the track. The cost per km is directly proportional to the number of them along the track, so one of the simplest ways to reduce construction costs is to reduce some of these elements. The objective of the ODSTRACK project is to establish an optimal separation of sleepers to optimize the initial construction costs. The project has several steps. First it is necessary a revision of the state of the art to go beyond. After that a theoretical modelling (trough finite element software) of the separation of sleepers in the rail track is proposed, which can help us to study this separation and the consequences in the operation of the track superstructure. Preliminary dynamic analyses have been carried out with finite element software. These initial approaches have shown that the distance between sleepers can be increased and, therefore, it is possible to reduce the construction costs of the railway superstructure. This also involves a reduction of environmental cost (by carbon footprint reduction). In order to achieve this preliminary numerical study, it is necessary to carry out laboratory tests (static, dynamic, and fatigue tests). These tests will help to correlate the previous models. Thank to this, several study cases will be analysed in order to shed light about track performance under different sleepers spacing (more than the current 0.6 m). Economic and environmental costs will be calculated for the optimal distance.

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Front Page Browse CCC CCP CSETS CTR IJRT Other Authors Search Purchase Guide FAQ Contact us	Civil-Comp Conferences ISSN 2753-3239 CCC: 1 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RAILWAY TECHNOLOGY: RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE Edited by: J. Pombo Paper 20.1 Sleepers spacing: An Introduction to the Odstrack project R. Sañudo¹, J.N. Varandas² S. Ricci³, J. Pombo⁴, V. Markine⁵ and B. Alonso¹ ¹SUM+LAB, Transport Department, University of Cantabria Santander, Spain ²CERIS, Civil Engineering Department, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal ³Departament of Civil, Environmental and Building, La Sapienza Universitá di Roma, Rome, Italy ⁴Institute of Railways Research. University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, United Kingdom ⁵Section of Road and Railway Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, TU Delft, The Netherlands doi:10.4203/ccc.1.20.1 Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper R. Sañudo, J.N. Varandas, S. Ricci, J. Pombo, V. Markine, B. Alonso, "Sleepers spacing: An Introduction to the Odstrack project", in J. Pombo, (Editor), "Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Railway Technology: Research, Development and Maintenance", Civil-Comp Press, Edinburgh, UK, Online volume: CCC 1, Paper 20.1, 2022, doi:10.4203/ccc.1.20.1 Keywords: railway track, track design, sleeper spacing, numerical analysis. Abstract The sleepers and fastenings are the most numerous elements of the superstructure of the track. The cost per km is directly proportional to the number of them along the track, so one of the simplest ways to reduce construction costs is to reduce some of these elements. The objective of the ODSTRACK project is to establish an optimal separation of sleepers to optimize the initial construction costs. The project has several steps. First it is necessary a revision of the state of the art to go beyond. After that a theoretical modelling (trough finite element software) of the separation of sleepers in the rail track is proposed, which can help us to study this separation and the consequences in the operation of the track superstructure. Preliminary dynamic analyses have been carried out with finite element software. These initial approaches have shown that the distance between sleepers can be increased and, therefore, it is possible to reduce the construction costs of the railway superstructure. This also involves a reduction of environmental cost (by carbon footprint reduction). In order to achieve this preliminary numerical study, it is necessary to carry out laboratory tests (static, dynamic, and fatigue tests). These tests will help to correlate the previous models. Thank to this, several study cases will be analysed in order to shed light about track performance under different sleepers spacing (more than the current 0.6 m). Economic and environmental costs will be calculated for the optimal distance. download the full-text of this paper (PDF, 9 pages, 784 Kb) go to the previous paper go to the next paper return to the table of contents return to the volume description
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