Design of concrete sleepers

November 22nd 2012

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 SCOPE

State of the Art

New European Standard EN 13230 Part 6 Concrete
sleepers Design
SPENNCON means for concrete sleeper design

Smart sleepers with cast-in sensors

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 Sleepers design State of the Art
There is existing documentation for the design of Concrete sleepers

Best known are:

UIC leaflet 713 R dated November 2004 Design of monoblock concrete
sleepers
AREMA Chapter 30 Ties

There is a general agreement among European experts that these calculation methods:
Are efficient for determining bending moments at rail seat section
Are not efficient for determining bending moments at centre section

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 New European Standard EN 13230 Part 6
Concrete sleepers Design

New European Standard EN 13230 Part 6 Concrete sleepers - Design will be

submitted for final vote from all European, Standard bodies in 2013

Standard provides 2 ways for designing concrete sleepers:

Experimental method from successful experience in tracks
Theoretical method with the use of finite elements calculation

In addition, both methods can be mixed

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 New European Standard EN 13230 Part 6
Concrete sleepers Design
Effect of wheel load to the
Levels of bending
sleeper
moments in the sleeper

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 New European Standard EN 13230 Part 6
Concrete sleepers Design
Steps for the
experimental method

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 New European Standard EN 13230 Part 6
Concrete sleepers Design

Steps for the

theoretical method

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 New European Standard EN 13230 Part 6
Concrete sleepers Design

Design model using

the elastic beam
on elastic foundation

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SPENNCON means for concrete sleeper design
First step is to check that:
geometry of the sleeper + position/quantity of prestressing
tendons + manufacturing process
will fulfill required bending moments
For this purpose, Excel sheet at SPENNCON for:
Calculation of losses according to Eurocode 2 for prestressing,
concrete shrinkage, etc
Takes into account:
Position of each prestressing tendon
Concrete strength
Manufacturing process
Etc

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SPENNCON means for concrete sleeper design
Second step in to check homogeneity of the prestress inside the
concrete sleeper
For this purpose, Finite Element tool at SPENNCON for:
Calculation run on the CAO 3D model
Help for the design

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 New Smart sleepers with cast-in sensors

New European Standard Concrete sleepers and bearers

Design with many European Railway Administrations
Accurate knowledge for sleeper real bending moments at rail
seat
Little knowledge for sleeper real bending moments at centre
section
Little knowledge for bearers real bending moments

Proposal from CONSOLIS Rail Branch is to measure real

bending moments in track with the use of dedicated
sleepers/bearers

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 New Smart sleepers with cast-in sensors

State of the art is to use strain gauges for the measurement of

stresses in the concrete sleepers.
Strain gauges are glued on the lateral surface of the sleepers
Durability of gauges is reduced

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 Smart sleepers with cast-in sensors

Vertical sensors for load measurement Horizontal sensors for bending moment
measurement

System is to use standard sleepers with

sensors embedded in the concrete

Why a fiber optical sensor (rather than a

strain gauge)
Cast into the concrete
Insensible to electromagnetic
perturbation
Dynamic measures up to 15kHz
Long sensor

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 Smart sleepers with cast-in sensors
Goal: provide to our clients a tool for better understanding of the
track behaviour
Utilization for R&D programs
Provides measured values for the coefficients proposed in the EN standard
13230-6 Concrete sleepers and bearers Design
Wheel load distribution on sleepers
Effect of speed on sleepers
Effect of rail pad stiffness on sleepers
Measurement of bending moments in bearers
Measure the effect of USP, Soft rail fastening, etc
Measure the effect of temperature on resilient materials (Rail pads, USP, etc)
Measure the influence of maintenance operation (rail grinding, ballast
tamping)
Utilization for track monitoring with measurement of the sleeper
bearing irregularities on ballast

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Thanks for your attention

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