Experimental investigation of the e ect of winged sleeper on lateral resistance of ballasted track

Abstract

Nowadays, the advantages of continuous welded rails and engineers' preference for such types of tracks have highlighted the signi cance of the lateral stability of railways. In order to promote the stability of railways, lateral resistance development mechanism should be reinforced. One of the methods for reinforcing the mechanism of passive pressures at the end of sleeper and consequently, increasing the durability of tracks is utilization of winged sleepers. In this paper, the lateral resistance of conventional and winged sleepers is examined and compared using laboratory and eld tests. The lateral resistant force of tracks was measured by single-sleeper push test and track panel loading test. At a laboratory, in comparison with the conventional samples, single-sleeper push tests showed a 101% increase in the lateral resistance of the winged sleeper. In the eld test, the test track was divided into three parts, namely conventional sleeper, winged sleeper, and mixed parts (alternating between conventional and winged sleepers). The lateral resistance of each part was measured by Lateral Track Panel loading Test (LTPT). In the eld test, a 96% increase in lateral resistance was obtained. In comparison with the conventional panels, winged-sleeper panels and mixed-sleeper panels showed 71% and 59% resistance increases, respectively. While using winged sleepers in ballasted tracks, lateral displacements decreased by increasing the volume of shoulder and crib ballasts through the passive pressure mechanism.