• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.197-216
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• 2016

The increased speed of a train causes increased loads that act on the track substructures. To ensure the safety of the track substructures, proper maintenance and repair are necessary based on an accurate characterization of strength and stiffness. The objective of this study is to develop and apply a cone penetrometer incorporated with the dynamic cone penetration method (CPD) for investigating track substructures. The CPD consists of an outer rod for dynamic penetration in the ballast layer and an inner rod with load cells for static penetration in the subgrade. Additionally, an energy-monitoring module composed of strain gauges and an accelerometer is connected to the head of the outer rod to measure the dynamic responses during the dynamic penetration. Moreover, eight strain gauges are installed in the load cells for static penetration to measure the cone tip resistance and the friction resistance during static penetration. To investigate the applicability of the developed CPD, laboratory and field tests are performed. The results of the CPD tests, i.e., profiles of the corrected dynamic cone penetration index (CDI), profiles of the cone tip and friction resistances, and the friction ratio are obtained at high resolution. Moreover, the maximum shear modulus of the subgrade is estimated using the relationships between the static penetration resistances and the maximum shear modulus obtained from the laboratory tests. This study suggests that the CPD test may be a useful method for the characterization of track substructures.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.110-121
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• 2016

In the decision-making, such as selection of structure, construction method, or time and scheme of maintenance, the evaluation of life-cycle cost(LCC) is of great importance. The maintenance cost occupy a large portion of the LCC of the railway track as well as the initial construction cost. Futhermore, the proportion of the maintenance cost is much higher in the ballasted track. Thus, the importance of the LCC evaluation is higher than in any other engineering structures. In this study, a LCC model that can consider various design parameters such as the type of track structure, annual traffic volume, axle load, train speed, and proportion of curve sections and engineering structures has been developed. Fundamental data for calculating costs also have been presented. Based on the model and data proposed, the trends in the variation of LCC according to the design parameters were examined and the most important design parameters in the LCC analysis of railway track were investigated. The results show that the proportion of renewal and operational costs is much higher in the ballasted track than in the concrete track, and the annual traffic volume and ballast taming period are most significant factors on the LCC of the ballasted track. On the contrary, it is revealed that the proportion of the initial construction costs in the concrete track is much higher, and the LCC of the concrete track is less sensitive to the traffic volume, train speed, and axle load.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2010.03a
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• pp.208-212
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• 2010

The high-speed railway consists of tracks, gravel ballast and subgrade, and the dynamic load is passed to subgrade through track and gravel ballast. The relaxation condition of the gravel ballast is able to be evaluate relatively and to be repaired through a continuous management, but it is difficult to evaluate the condition of subgrade, which is final part of supporting dynamic load and to repair it when made a problem. The gravel ballast and subgrade are evaluated by determining shear wave velocity. To evaluate ballast and subgrade, a good method to determine shear wave velocity is a non-destructive experiment such as surface wave tests providing a prompt experiment because an experiment in railway has a lot of tests which are carried out following railway directions and needs to prevent damage of the system. In general, a railway has limitation of an experimental space by narrow width, sleeper and etc., and background noise by a reflector exists. The existing surface wave tests need a minimum space, and it is difficult to get a reliable test results on account of background noise effect. Therefore, it is difficult or impossible to apply to existing surface wave test of subgrade and ballast. In this study, the HWAW method is applied to determine a shear wave velocity profile of the underground. The HWAW method is the experiment which is able to be carried out on a narrow space, and it determines share wave velocity of a site by measuring the wave from surface sources on the same spot. In addition, it removes effects of background noise accordingly to a signal processing using harmonic wavelet transforms, so it is useful to evaluate subgrade of a high-speed railway in the narrow space and the situation of background noise. In order to check an application of the HWAW method, an experiment is carried out on a high-speed railway field and a test result is compared to boring results.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.405-411
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• 2009

Railway signaling system in a rapid transit using the ATC system the approved a speed limit to a train and a part of signaling system in a metro approved a distance which is possible to move. Referring to the way of transmitting train control information, there are the one transmitting it to the on-board system of a train using the direct track, the another transmitting it establishing an instrument, and the other transmitting an instrument by a railway track. The one is the method using the direct track as a conductor for composing the part of the track and attaining the information controlling a train by transmitting a signal to the track. It is used for the high-speed railway and the subway. The method using the track attains information by transmitting it to returned information, and the on-board system of a train attains it by magnetic coupling. Because many reinforcing bars on the concrete slab track are used, interaction between a rail and a reinforcing bar that is not produced on ballast track is made. Due to the interaction, the electric characteristic of rail is changed. In the current paper, we numerically computed the coupling coefficient between the rail and the reinforcing bar based on the concrete slab track throughout the model related to the rail and the reinforcing bar using the concrete slab track that is used in the second interval of the Gyeongbu high-speed railway, and we defined the coupling coefficient not changed in the electric characteristic of rail in the condition that there is no interaction between the rail and the reinforcing bar.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.47-54
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• 2009

The ballast track, the most common type of conventional railroad track in Korea, is deteriorated by abrasion of ballast, it's penetration into roadbed, and rugged surface of roadbed caused by cyclic loading of train. Persistent occurrence of those phenomena lead to insufficient drain capacity, one of major factors in track design, and it increases pore water pressure and decreases of shear strength under rainfall condition leading to unstable roadbed. In this study, cylindrical model tests are executed for 3 types of geotextile applying cyclic loading in order to observe the characteristics of displacement and bearing capacity of geotextile, and undrained condition has been applied for 0 day, 3 days and 7 days to each geotextiles. The results showed that there was about 1% difference at the final displacement rates between reinforced soils and nature soils and the displacement of the ground surface increases along with the degrees of the saturation. And in case that water contents exceeds the threshold, it is also apparent that weight and tensile strength of geotextile influences displacement of the ground surface. And the larger weight of geotextile is, the smaller plastic displacement. It is evaluated that non-woven fabric comes into effect on reducing the bearing capacity but, the weight of geotextile has little influence on it.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.141-151
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• 2003

Railway bridges are subject to dynamic loads generated by the interaction between moving vehicles and the bridge structures. These dynamic loads result in response fluctuations in bridge members. To investigate the real dynamic behavior of the bridge, therefore, a number of analytical and experimental Investigations should be carried out. In this paper, a train/track/bridge interaction analysis program for evaluating the dynamic characteristics of bridges due to KTX operation in terms of structural safety, operational safety and passenger comfort is developed. To build a practical model of train/track/bridge, Hertzian spring for wheel/rail contact modeling and Winkler element for ballast are applied. This program also used torsional degree of freedom and constraint equation based on geometrical relationship in order to take into consideration three-dimensional eccentricity effect due to the operation on double track through quasi-three dimensional analysis. To verify the developed Program, comparison has been made between the measured results and those of simulation of the typical PSC box bridge(2@40m=80m) of the KHSR bridges.

• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1617-1630
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• 2018

The crucial differences between conventional rail with split-type connectors and continuous welded rails are axial stress in the longitudinal direction and stability, as well as other issues generated under the influence of loading effects. Longitudinal stresses generated in continuously welded rails on railway bridges are strongly influenced by the nonlinear behavior of the supporting system comprising sleepers and ballasts. Thus, the track structure interaction cannot be neglected. The rail-support system mentioned above has properties of non-uniform material distribution and uncertainty of construction quality. The linear elastic hypothesis therefore cannot correctly evaluate the stress distribution within the rails. The aim of this study is to apply the nonlinear finite element method using the nonlinear coupling interface between the track and structural model and to illustrate the welded rail behavior under the loading effect and uncertain factors of the ballast. Numerical results of nonlinear finite analysis with a three-dimensional solid and frame element model are presented for a typical track-bridge system. A composite plate girder, modeled by solid and shell elements, is also analyzed to consider the behavior of the welded rail. The analysis result showed buckling under the independent calculations of load cases, including 'temperature change', 'bending of the supporting structure', and 'braking' of the railway vehicle. A parametric study of the load combination method and the loading sequence is also included in this analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.562-568
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• 2017

A precast floating slab track with a 5m slab panel and installed with isolators is proposed to solve the noise and vibration problem at existing elevated railway stations. Thus, the construction can be carried out rapidly without interrupting the train operation. However, dynamic instability problems may be caused by repeated discontinuities in track due to the short slab panel length and excessive rail displacement due to the inherent operation mechanism of a floating system in reducing the vibration. Furthermore, the difference of the supporting stiffness at the transition between the floating track and ballast track may raise problems. In this study, the assessment factors to evaluate the dynamic stability of the precast floating slab track are presented and assessed with the vehicle-track interaction analysis. Through the analysis, all values relevant to the stability at the floating track section are found to be acceptable, and the slab panels at the transition section are designed to satisfy the stability.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.191-208
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• 2012

Due to rapid industrialisation, large scale infrastructure development is taking place worldwide. This includes railways, high speed highways, elevated roads etc. To meet the demands of society and industry, many innovative techniques and materials are being developed. In developed nations like USA, Japan etc. for railways applications, new material like geocells, geogrids are being used successfully to enable fast movement of vehicles. The present research work was aimed to develop design methodologies for improvement of grounds subjected to cyclic loads caused by moving vehicles on roads, rail tracks etc. Deformation behavior of ballast under static and cyclic load tests was studied based on square footing test. The paper presents a study of the effect of geo-synthetic reinforcement on the (cumulative) plastic settlement, of point loaded square footing on a thick layer of granular base overlying different compressible bases. The research findings showed that inclusion of geo-synthetics significantly improves the performance of ballasted tracks and reduces the foundation area. If the area is kept same, higher speed trains can be allowed to pass through the same track with insertion of geosynthetics. Similarly, area of machine foundation may also be reduced where geosynthetics is provided in foundation. The model tests results have been validated by numerical modeling, using $FLAC^{3D}$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.21 no.2 s.74
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• pp.80-88
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• 2006

In the present study damage behavior of resilient sleepers on concrete ballasts is analyzed. Cracks of resilient sleepers in a railway track system are concentrated on inside of blocks to which the tie bars are connected. Finite element analysis is performed by dividing a block into the straight section and the curved section according to the load condition of the resilient sleeper, and limited the interpretation within the range of resilience. In addition, the value of stress obtained from the interpretation was compared with the allowable stress of concrete to determine the safety. According to the result of numerical analysis, compared with the stress before unequal settlement, the tensile stress of the inside of the block increased significantly after the settlement considering the entire block, and the tensile stress of this part exceeded the allowable stress of concrete, so was undesirable in terms of safety. In reality, the arrangement of tensile stiffeners inside blocks connected to tie bars is improper in the design of resilient sleepers, and when unequal settlement occurs, tensile stress increases on this part and consequently causes cracking damage. It is necessary to arrange wire meshes or tensile reinforcing bars in a structurally safe way to reinforce the inside of blocks on which cracks are concentrated.