Failures of mainline railway sleepers and suggested remedies – review of current practice
Article
Article Title | Failures of mainline railway sleepers and suggested remedies – |
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ERA Journal ID | 3667 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Ferdous, Wahid (Author) and Manalo, Allan (Author) |
Journal Title | Engineering Failure Analysis |
Journal Citation | 44, pp. 17-35 |
Number of Pages | 19 |
Year | 2014 |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Place of Publication | Oxford, United Kingdom |
ISSN | 1350-6307 |
1873-1961 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfailanal.2014.04.020 |
Abstract | Over the last two decades, the premature failures of traditional railway sleepers have significantly increased the track maintenance costs. The primary obstacle to minimising this problem is the lack of understanding of the mechanism of sleeper degradation. This paper discusses the different deterioration mechanisms for traditional timber, concrete and steel sleepers and the potential protective measures to minimise these problems. This paper exhaustively reviews the failure mechanisms of these three commonly used sleeper materials with suggested solutions. Fungal decay, end splitting and termite attacks has been identified as the principal causes of timber sleeper failures. On the other hand, concrete sleepers are vulnerable to rail-seat deterioration, cracking and damaging under different loading conditions and adverse environments. Steel's risk of corrosion and fatigue cracking makes it an inferior-quality material for sleeper. Solution approaches are recommended and provided in this paper in order to the best utilise these different railway sleeper materials. New materials are also introduced as effective alternative to replace the traditional railway sleepers. |
Keywords | railway sleepers; failure mechanisms; protective measures; alternative sleeper materials |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 400510. Structural engineering |
400512. Transport engineering | |
401706. Numerical modelling and mechanical characterisation | |
Public Notes | © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Published version deposited in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. |
Byline Affiliations | Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q268x/failures-of-mainline-railway-sleepers-and-suggested-remedies-review-of-current-practice
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