01514845

Component

The present paper studies the design of rail pads from deconstructed end-of-life tires, without the necessity of grinding up these wastes. This allows for the abundant use of a waste material as well as economic benefits. This research study was divided into 3 phases: (i) characterization of the tire layers; (ii) analysis of the viability of using deconstructed tire pads as rail pads in railway systems; (iii) evaluation of the impact of different design parameters (thickness, tire employed in the manufacturing and treatments for the used tires) on the mechanical performance of tire pads, which allows for elastic pads with different properties. Results showed that tire pads manufactured from the outer tire layers are susceptible of being used in railway systems with different requirements, depending on the pad thickness and treatment applied. Nonetheless, it should be considered that elastic pads from diverse tires lead to different behavior of these materials. Tire pads of 6.0 mm thickness (from a same type of tire and without treatment) have been used in a conventional railway section in Spain to evaluate the long-term performance of these materials.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AR050 Railroad Track Structure System Design.

01503729

14-1817

English

2014

Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Photos; References; Tables

Design; Railroad tracks; Thickness; Tie pads; Tires; Wastes

Spain

Materials; Railroads; I30: Materials

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2014 Paper #14-1817

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 27 2014 2:39PM