An Experimental Evaluation of Techniques for Measuring the Dynamic Compliance of Railroad Track.

摘要

This report covers the initial track measurement task of a 3-phase program to design and fabricate equipment for measuring track dynamic characteristics. The objective of this task was to evaluate techniques for measuring the dynamic compliance and to identify general trends in the behavior of the track structure. Some of the results obtained were a high degree of nonlinearity of vertical track stiffness with vertical preload and a settling phenomenon of the track structure due to the constant preload and dynamic excitation. This settling yields a stiffer track structure for a constantly applied preload as compared to a cyclic preload. The information in this report is intended for use by research personnel who have an interest in railroad track performance as related to vehicle/track interaction and track maintenance,and in the measurement of track deflections and dynamic characteristics for developing track analysis models and evaluating track structure condition.