Mitigation of track buckling in transition zones of steel bridges by geotextile reinforcement of the ballast layer

摘要

Track thermal buckling is one of the primary safety issues of continuously welded rail tracks. It has been shown that transition zones of open deck steel bridges are more prone to track buckling, as the thermal loads from the bridge and lower track lateral resistance in this region can destabilize the track in the lateral plane. The aim of this paper is to assess the possibility of reinforcing the ballast layer with geotextiles to mitigate the track buckling problem in the transition zones. To do so, a number of laboratory experiments are performed using one and two layers of geogrids and various depths of ballast layer. Single tie push tests are performed on the track and forcedisplacement curves are derived for the sleepers. It is shown that adding the geotextile layer to the ballast layer can increase its lateral resistance by up to 41%. The results are then introduced in the numerical model of a track developed in Abaqus finite element software for track buckling analysis. It is shown that adding the geogrid layer can increase the track buckling temperature by up to 11.33 degrees C, an increase of almost 21%, compared to that of an unreinforced track.