TY - JOUR
T1 - Experimental and numerical study on lateral resistance of frictional sleeper with arrowhead groove
AU - Jing, Guoqing
AU - Jia, Wenli
AU - Wang, Xinyu
AU - Markine, Valeri
AU - Nålsund, Roar
AU - Guo, Yunlong
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - To enhance the stability of continuous welded rail (CWR) tracks, frictional sleepers have been developed. The frictional sleepers are new types of sleepers with grooves on the bottom, and different bottom grooves improve lateral resistances at different magnitudes. In this study, single sleeper push test (SSPT) and its model with discrete element method (DEM) were carried out to confirm how much arrowhead groove frictional (AGF) sleeper increases the lateral resistance of ballasted track. The SSPTs were performed to confirm the lateral resistance results, and also to validate and calibrate the DEM models. With the validated models, the groove factors influencing the lateral resistances were studied, including groove sizes (depth, width), arrowhead groove direction and groove numbers. The reason of lateral resistance improvement was studied at mesoscopic level, including the ballast-sleeper contact numbers and contact force chains. Results show that applying the AGF sleeper is able to improve lateral resistance by 7–24%, and it can provide enough lateral resistance after reducing ballast shoulder width from 500 mm to 300 mm. The AGF sleeper can improve the sleeper-ballast interaction by increasing sleeper-ballast contact number. The study is helpful for frictional sleeper design, further improving track stability.
AB - To enhance the stability of continuous welded rail (CWR) tracks, frictional sleepers have been developed. The frictional sleepers are new types of sleepers with grooves on the bottom, and different bottom grooves improve lateral resistances at different magnitudes. In this study, single sleeper push test (SSPT) and its model with discrete element method (DEM) were carried out to confirm how much arrowhead groove frictional (AGF) sleeper increases the lateral resistance of ballasted track. The SSPTs were performed to confirm the lateral resistance results, and also to validate and calibrate the DEM models. With the validated models, the groove factors influencing the lateral resistances were studied, including groove sizes (depth, width), arrowhead groove direction and groove numbers. The reason of lateral resistance improvement was studied at mesoscopic level, including the ballast-sleeper contact numbers and contact force chains. Results show that applying the AGF sleeper is able to improve lateral resistance by 7–24%, and it can provide enough lateral resistance after reducing ballast shoulder width from 500 mm to 300 mm. The AGF sleeper can improve the sleeper-ballast interaction by increasing sleeper-ballast contact number. The study is helpful for frictional sleeper design, further improving track stability.
KW - AGF sleeper
KW - Arrowhead groove
KW - Discrete element method
KW - Lateral resistance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112590787&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.trgeo.2021.100638
DO - 10.1016/j.trgeo.2021.100638
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112590787
SN - 2214-3912
VL - 30
JO - Transportation Geotechnics
JF - Transportation Geotechnics
M1 - 100638
ER -