Railroad Spike Failure Mitigation: Investigation of Tie Plate Hold-Down Elements [Research Results]

Dersch, Marcus S.; Khan, Rahat Mahmud

i

Railroad Spike Failure Mitigation: Investigation of Tie Plate Hold-Down Elements [Research Results]

2024-09-01
By Dersch, Marcus S. ; Khan, Rahat Mahmud

File Language:

English

Details

Creators:

Dersch, Marcus S. ; Khan, Rahat Mahmud
Corporate Creators:

United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research, Development and Technology
Subject/TRT Terms:
Publication/ Report Number:

RR 24-11
Resource Type:

Brief
Geographical Coverage:

United States
Edition:

Research Results
Contracting Officer:

Stuart, Cameron
Corporate Publisher:

United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Railroad Administration
Abstract:

The Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) investigated methods to mitigate timber tie spike failures. This research is part of an ongoing investigation sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that began in 2018. Through modeling, laboratory study, and field work, RailTEC’s team found that maintaining friction between tie plates and ties significantly reduces the spike load (Khachaturian et al., 2022). Installing screw spikes with spring washers can ensure friction is maintained in the fastener; however, the resiliency of the spring washer is critical to achieving long-term performance (Stuart and Dersch, 2022). This report discusses design recommendations for screw spike spring washers and quantifies the resiliency of alternative spring types. The data show that installation of commercially available springs can overstress the tie leading to premature failure. Alternative springs are available that provide greater resiliency without overstressing the wood tie.
Format:

PDF
Funding:

693JJ6-22-P000006
Download URL:

https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/77636/dot_77636_DS1.pdf
File Type:

[PDF - 787.23 KB]
Collection(s):

Federal Railroad Administration
Main Document Checksum:

urn:sha-512:1f8e1fa2a134c905dacc34276024bc01e07b1e13dcd96d48f4e2aa4e0e42c5f5a1ca07edb1a58f45cdc10e9f180990a5986275d2cc3a5e9ef4c87e2cdb5d9996

File Language:

English

ON THIS PAGE

Details

Found an issue?

Send us an email at:

publishinghd@cdc.gov

ROSA P serves as an archival repository of USDOT-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by USDOT or funded partners. As a repository, ROSA P retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.