Effect of Longitudinal Forces Due t o Loads on Prestressed Mono Block Sleeper Spacing

Abstract

The present paper proposes scientific and practical methodology to update the concept of the constant sleeper spacing along the railway track to be reset according to the affecting normal forces caused by passenger and freight trains. The proposed methodology has developed a suitable sleeper spacing plan according to three cases which are train acceleration, uniform speed and braking on -5 ‰, 0 ‰ and 5‰ grades. The study aims to determine the actual acceleration length, braking length, longitudinal forces, displacement index and finally the suitable sleeper spacing for each part on the track, then calculating the saving in sleepers for the following cases: passenger train runs on single or double track, freight train runs on single or double track and mixed traffic (passenger and freight) runs on single or double track.