Evaluation of Dynamic and Impact Wheel Load Factors and Their Application for Design

A sustained increase in heavy axle loads and cumulative freight tonnages, coupled with increased development of high speed passenger rail, is placing an increasing demand on railway infrastructure. Some of the most critical areas of the infrastructure in need of further research are track components used in high speed passenger, heavy haul, and shared infrastructure applications. In North America, many design guidelines for these systems use historical wheel loads and design factors that may not necessarily be representative of the loading experienced on rail networks today. Without a clear understanding of the nature of these loads and how design processes reflect them, it is impossible to adequately evaluate the superstructure to make design improvements. Therefore, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) are conducting research to lay the groundwork for an improved and thorough understanding of the loading environment entering the track structure using wheel loads captured by wheel impact load detectors (WILDs). This paper will identify several design factors that have been developed internationally and evaluate their effectiveness based on wheel loads using several existing and new evaluative metrics. New design factors are also developed to represent the wheel loading environment differently. An evaluative approach to historical and innovative design methodologies will provide improvements to design based on actual loading experienced on today’s rail networks.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AR050 Railroad Track Structure System Design.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Van Dyk, Brandon James
  • Dersch, Marcus S
  • Edwards, J Riley
  • Ruppert, Conrad
  • Barkan, Christopher P L
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Design methods; Dynamic loads; Heavy haul; High speed rail; Impact loads; Load factor; Track components; Wheel loads
• Geographic Terms: North America
• Subject Areas: Design; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; Vehicles and Equipment; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01519522
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-4714
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 26 2014 10:07AM