• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.213-220
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• 2018

The objective of this study was to estimate the optimum spacing of rail joint for a personal rapid transit(PRT) track system, and to compare the results with the normal rail and rail joint by performing the finite element analysis(FEA) and field measurements using actual vehicles. Based on the FEA and field measurement results compared, the optimum spacing of the rail joints was calculated to be maximum of 1.20m based on the rail displacement. The vertical displacement of the normal rail was higher than that of the rail joint at a spacing of 1.0m, but it was considered that the vehicle riding performance and serviceability of track would be improved in terms of the stability of the train due to similar to rail defection between normal rail and rail joint. Also, because of the proposed rail joint spacing in this study was longer than the current rail joint spacing, the economic effect would be expected by decreasing the amount of sleepers.