Influence of Vehicle Induced Loads on the Lateral Stability of CWR Track

Final report; Jan. 1983- Mar. 1984PDFTech ReportDOT-TSC-FRA-84-6DOT/FRA/ORD-85/03RR419/R4304BucklingStability (Mechanics)Continuous welded railUnited StatesUnited States. Federal Railroad AdministrationKish, AndrewSamavedam, GopalJeong, David Y.John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, (U.S.)United States. Federal Railroad Administration. Office of Research and DevelopmentNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-Rail SafetyNTL-RAIL TRANSPORTATION-RAIL TRANSPORTATIONNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Vehicle DesignNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Rail SafetyNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITYAGR-INFRASTRUCTURE-RailroadsVolpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference CenterThermal buckling of railroad tracks in the lateral plane is an important problem in the design and maintenance of continuous welded rail (CWR) track. The severity of the problem is manifested through the increasing number of derailments which are attributable to track buckling, indicating a need for developing better control on the allowable safe temperature increase for CWR track. The work reported here is a part of a major investigation conducted by the Transportation Systems Center for the Federal Railroad Administration on the thermal buckling of CWR tracks in the lateral plane. In this report, the influence of vehicles on the stability of CWR track subjected to temperature rise is examined. The changes in lateral resistance distribution due to vehicle loads are theoretically computed and the buckling response of tracks due to temperature increase is determined for various length cars. It is found that the dynamic buckling temperature for tangent tracks under long cars can be significantly lower than the static buckling temperature, whereas the safe temperature increase values do not appreciably differ. Curved tracks with low lateral resistance can buckle progressively in the presence of long cars, whereas statically (without-vehicle), they may exhibit safe temperature and buckling temperature values