Fatigue life losses of railway concrete sleepers due to surface abrasions

Railway concrete sleepers are one of the most significant components of ballasted track. The failure of a concrete sleeper is considered to be the process of accumulated damage due to repeated loads over a long period of time. The fatigue life of concrete sleepers is a concerned question of operation and maintenance departments of railway line. Despite the importance of the effects of wheel-rail interaction loads in the reduction of the life cycle and operation time of concrete sleepers has been realized, at present, there is no systematic procedure for the service life analysis of concrete sleepers under repeated loads. Based on the damage accumulation method, this paper presents a fatigue life assessment method for a prestressed concrete sleeper, and researches the fatigue life losses caused from surface abrasions. Surface abrasion is one of the most common problems of the concrete sleepers will reduce its resistance capability, and then influence its fatigue life. The outcome of this study can be used to evaluate the service performance of the abrasive concrete sleeper and improve the rail track maintenance and inspection criteria.