Sleepers Spacing Analysis in Railway Track Infrastructure

Roberto Sañudo*, Marina Miranda, Borja Alonso, Valeri Markine

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)
119 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Sleeper spacing has been a taboo subject throughout the railway’s history. Safety concerns related to the structural integrity have been the main causes of not addressing this matter. There are no specific and clear recommendations or guidelines in relation to this matter and the distances do not go more than 0.8 m. In order to go beyond this current situation, the following research paper analyses the influence of the spacing between sleepers on the behaviour of ballasted tracks by performing a dynamic simulation with finite elements in two dimensions for different track configurations, different elements, geometries, and separations within the frame of the ODSTRACK project. The variables studied are the vertical displacements, the forces and stresses on the most important elements of the superstructure, as well as the vertical accelerations in the sleepers and the train. The values obtained from the numerical simulations were compared with the maximum permitted values according to the guidelines. To limit this distance to the most restrictive variable among those analysed, it is necessary to make important assumptions, such as the permissible values and effective support contact areas between the sleepers and the ballast. The preliminary analyses carried out shed light on a possible increment of the spacing between sleepers’ axes up to more than 0.8 m. This suggests that important savings in railways construction costs can be achieved, and they will help to develop the next stage of the ODSTRACK project.

Original languageEnglish
Article number83
Number of pages20
JournalInfrastructures
Volume7
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • dynamic design
  • finite element modelling
  • sleepers spacing
  • stresses
  • vertical accelerations
  • vertical displacements

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Sleepers Spacing Analysis in Railway Track Infrastructure'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this