Service-Life Evaluation of Reinforced Concrete Sleepers Under Various Working Conditions

Abstract

In the present study, we briefly describe the history of the emergence and development of ferroconcrete sleeper structures on railroad of Russia and foreign countries. Interstate standards of Russia, and Eurasian Economic Union and European Community states are analyzed. It is noted that the standards have many things in common, and they can be used in the commercial activity of Russian and foreign companies on observation of national ecological standards. With the aim of improving the field operation effectiveness, the Rossiiskie Zheleznye Dorogi Joint Stock Company (RZhD JSC) poses a task on bringing the service life of the continuous railway structure using ferroconcrete sleepers to 1.5 bln gross ton hauled. In this connection, there arises a necessity in evaluating the manufacturing quality and service life of railway sleepers being produced at the plants in Russia and other countries. For solving this problem, we have developed a procedure for evaluating the manufacturing quality of ferroconcrete sleepers at the Spetszhelezobeton Plant, BetElTrans JSC, taken as an example as well as the service life of such sleepers in operation at the Trans-Siberian Railway. As a result of the study, we have found that the railway sleepers manufactured by the Italian Olmi technology exhibited the highest values of their quality indicators. A statistical treatment of sleeper-faults data performed using a regression analysis has allowed us to reveal the dependence of sleeper gamma-procentile lifetime on the rolling-stock axle load, on the curve radius, and on the fraction of curves in the analyzed railroad section. Results of the study can find use both at the RZhD JSC and at foreign railroad companies.