As higher demands are placed on North American railroad infrastructure by heavy haul traffic, it is increasingly important to understand the factors affecting the magnitude and distribution of load imparted to concrete crosstie rail seats. The rail seat load distribution is critical to the analysis of failure mechanisms associated with rail seat deterioration (RSD), the degradation of the concrete surface at the crosstie rail seat. RSD can lead to wide gauge, cant deficiency, and an increased risk of rail rollover, and is therefore of primary concern to Class I Freight Railroads in North America. As part of a larger study aimed at improving concrete crossties and fastening systems, researchers at UIUC are attempting to characterize the loading environment at the rail seat using matrix-based tactile surface sensors (MBTSS). This instrumentation technology has been implemented in experimentation utilizing both field conditions and laboratory facilities, and has provided valuable insight to further previous RSD research. This thesis will examine the results of experimentation with MBTSS to quantify the distribution of rail seat loads on concrete crossties, and consider several factors which affect the distribution of load at concrete crosstie rail seats. These findings will then be applied to new design metric, which is proposed to evaluate the uniformity of the rail seat load distribution. The findings of this thesis will ultimately lead to an improved understanding of the distribution of load on concrete crosstie rail seats, and will lead to crosstie and fastening system designs which are inherently resistant to RSD.
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Quantification of rail seat load distributions on concrete crossties
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