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Title:

Flexural Analysis of Prestressed Concrete Monoblock Crossties: Comparison of Current Methodologies and Sensitivity to Support Conditions

Accession Number:

01556969

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

Throughout the international railway community, many methods have been developed to analyze the flexural demand of concrete crossties. The investigation described in this paper serves to clarify and improve upon the current language found in the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) recommended practices for the design of prestressed concrete monoblock crossties. Specifically, this paper will focus on how changes in support condition assumptions affect the flexural analysis of the crosstie. The current flexural analysis methodologies contained in AREMA Chapter 30, EuroNorm (EN) 13230, International Union of Railways (UIC) 713R, and Australian Standard (AS) 1085.14 will be explained and compared. To investigate the theoretical bending moments experienced by the crosstie under varying support conditions, a linear-elastic crosstie analysis model was developed. This model was used to perform a parametric study to determine the sensitivity of the crosstie to changes in ballast reaction along the crosstie. The results of this parametric study were compared to existing design recommendations to find allowable levels of ballast reaction that can occur beneath the crosstie before failure is expected. This model was also used to calculate theoretical bending moment values under ballast reactions measured in the field. Since the theoretical rail seat bending moments exceeded current design recommendations and the crossties did not experience any flexural cracking, it suggests that the tested crossties were either over-designed or behaving as a deep beam. Based on the results of these analyses, recommendations to improve current design and maintenance practices for prestressed concrete crossties will be presented.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AR060 Railway Maintenance.

Monograph Accession #:

01550057

Report/Paper Numbers:

15-2924

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Wolf, Henry E
Mattson, Steve
Edwards, J Riley
Dersch, Marcus S
Barkan, Christopher P L

Pagination:

15p

Publication Date:

2015

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Uncontrolled Terms:

Crossties

Subject Areas:

Design; Railroads; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-2924

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Dec 30 2014 12:59PM