Structural Integrity Assessment of Concrete Sleepers by Modal Test Technique

Abstract

Concrete sleepers used in railway engineering are subject to damage, such as cracks and breakage. Damaged concrete sleepers undergo changes to their material and structural properties, including response, mode shape, and natural frequency. Therefore, we have proposed modal testing in this study to quantitatively evaluate the structural integrity of concrete sleepers. The results of modal testing were compared with those of numerical analysis and visual inspection. In addition, an impact hammer test was conducted to evaluate the structural performance of damaged concrete sleepers. The results show that natural-frequency analysis using the modal-testing technique can usefully complement visual inspection for structural performance evaluation in the field.