Study into stresses in rail track elements from high-speed rolling stock in Ukrainian main lines

• Main Authors: Potapov, Dmytro, Vitolberg, Volodymyr, Shumyk, Danylo, Boyko, Volodymyr, Kulik, Stanislav
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Crushed stone; Fasteners; High speed rail; Mathematical analysis; Railroad ballast; Railroad ties; Rails (railroad); Railway tracks; Reinforced concrete; Rolling stock; Stresses; Structural members; Traffic speed
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0120022

The study deals with estimation of the stress state of rail track structural elements from rapid (high-speed) electric trains, which are going to be introduced on some rail sections in Ukraine. The calculation is based on the technique presented in the Rules for Calculation of Rail Track for Strength and Stability. The characteristics of the most frequently used rail track structures on Ukrainian Railways were taken as the input data. It is found that all types of electric trains under consideration can operate at speeds over 160 km/h on straight sections of thermally treated continuous welded rails P65 with intermediate rail fasteners KPP-5, on reinforced concrete sleepers with a sleeper density of 1840 units per km on the 40-cm crushed-stone ballast. The values of stresses in the lateral side of the rail base can be considered as the factor which impacts (sometimes limits) the traffic speed on the rail track. The values of other stresses (in the lateral side of the rail head, under the pad of the sleeper, in the ballast, and on the supporting subgrade) do not exceed the allowable values for all speed ranges under calculation.