Influence of rail pad stiffness on track stressing, life-cycle and noise emission

Abstract

In this paper the results for the influence of the rail pad stiffness on the Railway Track stressing and its Life-Cycle is presented, as derived from a research program performed in Greece due to the appearance of extended cracking (over 60 % of the sleepers on track) in twin-block concrete sleepers during the 1980's. This implies either inadequate design and/or insufficient strength of the concrete sleepers. The existing theories for the calculation of the design loads could not justify the appearance of these cracks since the calculated actions on sleepers were much lower than the limit values. An innovative method predicting the extended cracking was developed. The adoption of very soft pads reduced the track's stressing and led to a significant prolongation of the Life Cycle of the track elements. The results of the study are presented and an approach to the noise emission as crucial sustainable parameter in railways.