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Keywords: ballasted track, high performance mono-block sleeper, high performance bi-block sleeper.

Summary

A railway sleeper is the structural element which transversally connects the two rails by means of fastening components, thus ensuring its gauge. Its additional function is to firmly secure the track to the ballast and to distribute the loads transferred from railway carriages to the ballast. One of the most important parameters in the characterization of the performance of railway sleepers is represented by their lateral resistance to the sliding: The higher its value increases, the better the track stability becomes, thus reducing the frequency of maintenance interventions necessary to keep the superstructure efficient.

This paper examines the performance of railway sleepers by comparing four different types of structure: mono-block sleeper, bi-block sleeper and the recently devised and patented sleepers called EGA and HP-BB. The analyses carried out show how the lateral sliding resistance, a parameter influencing the track stability, is closely linked to the mechanical ballast characteristics, to the sleeper geometry and to the acting vertical load. In all of the sleepers studied lateral resistance has been observed to decrease whenever the internal friction angle of the ballast was reduced, mainly after the aging processes of the railway superstructure.

The EGA and HP-BB sleepers, which show the same performance as a result of their similar geometry, guarantee an average resistance increase by 32% compared to the bi-block sleeper and by 63% compared with the mono-block in the case of ballast in good condition. Moreover, in case of degraded ballast, the performance of the EGA and HP-BB sleepers appears to be even more remarkable: In fact, its resistance is on average greater by about 71% than a bi-block sleeper and by 202% than a mono-block sleeper.

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Front Page Browse CCP CSETS CTR IJRT Other Authors Search Purchase Guide FAQ Contact us	Civil-Comp Proceedings ISSN 1759-3433 CCP: 98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RAILWAY TECHNOLOGY: RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE Edited by: J. Pombo Paper 39 Ballasted Track Superstructures: Performance of Innovative Railway Sleepers M. Guerrieri¹ and D. Ticali² ¹CRB, Faculty of Engineering, University of Perugia, Italy ²Faculty of Engineering, University of Enna "Kore", Italy doi:10.4203/ccp.98.39 purchase the full-text of this paper Full Bibliographic Reference for this paper M. Guerrieri, D. Ticali, "Ballasted Track Superstructures: Performance of Innovative Railway Sleepers", in J. Pombo, (Editor), "Proceedings of the First International Conference on Railway Technology: Research, Development and Maintenance", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 39, 2012. doi:10.4203/ccp.98.39 Keywords: ballasted track, high performance mono-block sleeper, high performance bi-block sleeper. Summary A railway sleeper is the structural element which transversally connects the two rails by means of fastening components, thus ensuring its gauge. Its additional function is to firmly secure the track to the ballast and to distribute the loads transferred from railway carriages to the ballast. One of the most important parameters in the characterization of the performance of railway sleepers is represented by their lateral resistance to the sliding: The higher its value increases, the better the track stability becomes, thus reducing the frequency of maintenance interventions necessary to keep the superstructure efficient. This paper examines the performance of railway sleepers by comparing four different types of structure: mono-block sleeper, bi-block sleeper and the recently devised and patented sleepers called EGA and HP-BB. The analyses carried out show how the lateral sliding resistance, a parameter influencing the track stability, is closely linked to the mechanical ballast characteristics, to the sleeper geometry and to the acting vertical load. In all of the sleepers studied lateral resistance has been observed to decrease whenever the internal friction angle of the ballast was reduced, mainly after the aging processes of the railway superstructure. The EGA and HP-BB sleepers, which show the same performance as a result of their similar geometry, guarantee an average resistance increase by 32% compared to the bi-block sleeper and by 63% compared with the mono-block in the case of ballast in good condition. Moreover, in case of degraded ballast, the performance of the EGA and HP-BB sleepers appears to be even more remarkable: In fact, its resistance is on average greater by about 71% than a bi-block sleeper and by 202% than a mono-block sleeper. purchase the full-text of this paper (price £20) go to the previous paper go to the next paper return to the table of contents return to the book description purchase this book (price £110 +P&P)
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