Analysis of gauge widening phenomenon on heavy haul line using measurement data

Projekt:

JVTC

Sammanfattning:
The operational safety and maintenance cost of railway transport
are largely influenced by the geometric characteristics of the
track. One of the major geometric parameters essential for safe
and high performance of railway track is the gauge. The
phenomenon of gauge widening is the gradual increase of the
gauge size and it is one of the major track failure modes that could
cause derailments if it is not effectively restored in due time.
Excessive gauge widening is as a result of inadequate lateral track
resistance and lateral rail strength capacity as influenced by
sleeper, fastener ballast or subgrade conditions. This paper
presents an exploratory analysis of gauge measurement data to
summarize the main characteristics and explain the progression of
gauge widening in different curve types. The measurement data
were collected from 2007 to 2013 in curves with different layouts
and structures. The growth of gauge over time is analysed and
also the variation in the gauge dimension with the layout of the
track is presented for engineering considerations. Apparently,
gauges of all the curves studied are above the nominal dimension
of 1435mm but below the immediate action limit. The result
shows that curve radius has significant effect on the rate of gauge
widening as it has been shown that tight curves A and B have high
rates of deterioration while curves D and E with large radius have
relatively low rates of deterioration. A practical application of this
study is the use of the presented quality assessment procedure and
the estimated gauge widening rate for condition evaluation and
maintenance planning.

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Författare: Stephen Mayowa Famurewa ; Matthias Asplund ; Paul Abrahamsson
Utgivare: Luleå tekniska universitet
Utgivningsdatum: 2014
Diarienummer: TRV 2011/58769
ISBN: 978-91-7439-972-1
Antal sidor: 7
Språk: Engelska
Kontaktperson: Per Olof Larsson Kråik, UHjbs