Most modern railways use continuous welded rail (CWR). A major problem in CWR is the almost total absence of expansion joints to accommodate seasonal thermal changes. This lack of joints results in derailments because of so-called sun kinks or buckling in hot weather (Figure 1) and breakage or pull-apart in cold weather. A related critical parameter is the rail neutral temperature (NT), or the temperature at which there is no longitudinal tensile or compressive stresses. To ensure safety of operation in CWR, reliable information on the level of stress in the rail is critical. Unfortunately, the currently available methods for stress measurement in CWR suffer from unacceptable drawbacks of inefficiency and/or unreliability. The static rail stiffness measurement method requires unfastening a long segment of rail. The D’stresen technique involves fastening/support condition variation challenges. And, the acousto-elastic technique’s drawback is low sensitivity to stress levels.
Thermal buckling of railroad tracks in the lateral plane is an important problem in the design and maintenance of continuous welded rail (CWR) track. ...
This research is intended to improve railroad safety by developing means to prevent derailments due to lateral buckling of the track under a moving tr...
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