Measuring Rail Seat Pressure Distribution in Concrete Crossties

A sustained increase in gross rail loads and cumulative freight tonnages as well as growing interest in high-speed passenger rail development is placing an increasing demand on North American railway infrastructure. To meet this demand, improvements to the performance and durability of concrete crossties and fastening systems are necessary. One of the typical failure modes for concrete crossties in North America is rail seat deterioration, and researchers have hypothesized that localized crushing of the concrete in the rail seat is one of the potential mechanisms that contributes to this failure mode. To understand this mechanism better, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is using a matrix-based tactile surface sensor to measure and quantify the forces and pressure distribution acting at the contact interface between the concrete rail seat and the bottom of the rail pad. Preliminary data collected during laboratory experimentation have shown that a direct relationship existed between rail pad ...