Chumyen, P., Connolly, D.P. orcid.org/0000-0002-3950-8704, Woodward, P.K. et al. (1 more author) (2023) A comparison of earthwork designs for railway transition zones. Construction and Building Materials, 395. 132295. ISSN 0950-0618
Abstract
Railway track transitions are zones where there is an abrupt change in the track-ground structure. They are often the location of rapid track deterioration, which means more frequent track maintenance is needed compared to plain line tracks. With the aim of reducing maintenance, modern transition zone designs use tapered stiffness earthwork profiles to minimise train-track dynamics. However, there has been limited comparison regarding the effect of different tapered profiles on dynamic behaviour. Therefore, this paper's novelty is the investigation of the performance of different earthwork designs in smoothing stiffness transition's considering different types of improvement and also train speed. To do so, first a 3D finite element track model is developed, with support conditions transitioning from an earth embankment onto a concrete bridge. A dynamic moving train load is simulated using a rigid multi-body approach capable of accounting for train-track interaction. The model is used to study the effect of four earthwork solutions with differing stiffness tapers. For each scenario, two different track structure types (ballast and concrete slab) are considered, along with different magnitudes of ground improvement. Lastly, the effects of train speed are explored. It is found tapered earthwork solutions for ballasted tracks show greater dynamic improvement compared to slabs due to their reduced bending stiffness. Further, the more complex improvement geometries such as double trapezoid shapes offer some additional improvement at locations within 3 m of the bridge. However, when considering such tapered stiffness-based earthwork solutions, additional factors such as constructability must also be considered.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Railway Transition Earthworks; Ground improvement; Embankment-Bridge transition zones; Railroad dynamics; Wedge-shaped soil reinforcement |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Civil Engineering (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number EU - European Union 101014571 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 15 Feb 2024 11:43 |
Last Modified: | 15 Feb 2024 11:43 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2023.132295 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:209191 |