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    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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    <atom:link href="https://trid.trb.org/Record/RSS?s=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" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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      <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
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      <title>Investigation on drag reduction mechanism of trans-media vehicle with spike in high-speed underwater motion</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2618266</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Trans-media vehicles experience pronounced drag during high-speed water entry and subsequent underwater operation. Consequently, the implementation of innovative drag-reduction strategies is critical to mitigate the attendant physical challenges. A novel approach combining trans-media vehicles with spikes is adopted, with three-dimensional Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes computations based on the interPhaseChangeFoam solver in the open-source platform OpenFOAM®. Numerical simulations are performed on the multiphase flowfield about vehicles equipped with spikes of varying configurations, namely flat-faced spike, hemispherical aerodisk and flat-faced aerodisk, aiming to investigate the flow and drag reduction mechanisms. Furthermore, in conjunction with analysis of variance, the impact of design parameters on the drag of the vehicle is examined. The results reveal that the spike reduces drag by reshaping the flowfield and regulating cavity morphology. The flat-faced spike achieves a 56.9% drag reduction rate by using its frontal stagnation effect to buffer the incoming flow. For the hemispherical aerodisk, due to its curved-surface characteristics and flow reattachment phenomenon, the body drag accounts for up to 64.4% of the total resistance. The flat-faced aerodisk generates a stable cavity that envelops the vehicle body, reducing the total drag to 272.38 N, significantly lower than the 798.20 N observed without a spike. Results from the analysis of variance demonstrate that velocity (50-200 m/s), angle of attack (0-6°), and diameter of aerodisk (5-8 mm) exert significant influences on the drag force, and within a certain range, the drag force exhibits an increasing trend with the increase in these three factors, while the influence of the length-to-diameter ratio (0.7-2.2) is not significant.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 22 Dec 2025 17:03:49 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2618266</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Railroad Spike Failure Mitigation: Investigation of Tie Plate Hold-Down Elements</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2431662</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) investigated methods to mitigate timber tie spike failures. This research is part of an ongoing investigation sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that began in 2018. Through modeling, laboratory study, and field work, RailTEC’s team found that maintaining friction between tie plates and ties significantly reduces the spike load (Khachaturian et al., 2022). Installing screw spikes with spring washers can ensure friction is maintained in the fastener; however, the resiliency of the spring washer is critical to achieving long-term performance (Stuart and Dersch, 2022). This report discusses design recommendations for screw spike spring washers and quantifies the resiliency of alternative spring types. The data show that installation of commercially available springs can overstress the tie leading to premature failure. Alternative springs are available that provide greater resiliency without overstressing the wood tie.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Sep 2024 11:18:43 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2431662</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Mechanistic Investigation of Timber Crosstie Spike Fastener Failures – Phase I: The Magnitude of the Spike Failure Challenge</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2338629</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) performed a literature review, conducted an industry-wide survey, and arranged multiple field visits to examine and quantify the challenges North American railroads are facing with broken spikes in timber crosstie track. Research was conducted between January and October of 2018. This report summarizes the project objectives, reviews fastening system designs for timber crossties, examines multiple broken spike derailment reports, reviews published literature regarding spike breakage, documents the results of a rail industry survey, summarizes field visits to multiple Class I locations experiencing broken spikes, and documents interviews with railroaders conducted in relation to these field visits. The research data concludes that spike failures are difficult to inspect for in track, are the cause of at least 10 derailments and are an ongoing issue in curves on at least 5 Class I railroads. The report offers a set of hypotheses to explain why spikes fail in certain areas of timber-tied track and proposes additional research to isolate the root cause(s) of these failures through laboratory experimentation and analytical finite element modeling (FEM).]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:20:41 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2338629</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Evaluating glass fiber reinforced composite sleepers to mitigate elastic fastening system spike fatigue failure: A finite element study</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2196834</link>
      <description><![CDATA[North American railroads have experienced spike fastener fatigue failures due to spike overloading that have led to multiple derailments. Failures have primarily been found in timber sleeper track constructed with elastic fasteners. This is likely because the elastic fasteners change the load path, resulting in spikes becoming a primary component to transfer the longitudinal forces. Mitigation methods to prevent spike overloading have been limited and thus, this novel study seeks an alternative method leveraging engineered composite sleepers to reduce spike stress. This paper first documents and compares typical composite and timber sleeper properties as reported in the literature. Then, this paper describes the development and validation of a single spike-in-sleeper finite element model (FEM) used to investigate the interaction between the composite sleeper and spike. A glass fiber reinforced composite (GFRC) sleeper was selected due to its high elastic modulus and compressive strength reported in the literature. The validated model was used to quantify the effect of these critical material properties on spikes subjected to longitudinal loads. The GFRC’s stiffness and compressive strength values lead to a 30% reduction in the maximum spike stress when compared to spikes installed in timber sleepers. The reduced spike stress in the GFRC fell below the spike’s expected fatigue limit. Finally, this paper provides required compressive strength for given longitudinal loads to ensure the spike stress falls below the fatigue limit in different operating environments. This characterization of required composite sleeper strength properties can be used to advance track system mechanistic-empirical design.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 24 Oct 2023 09:35:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2196834</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Quantification of longitudinal fastener stiffness and the effect on fastening system loading demand</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2119079</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Over the past 20 years, there have been at least 10 derailments due to spike fastener fatigue failures in North America. These fatigue failures have been considered a moderate to severe challenge that require manual walking inspections that are both time and labor intensive. These fatigue failures have been found to result from spike overloading due to lateral and longitudinal loads. To date, there has been limited quantification of the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal fastener forces in track. This paper quantifies the effect of fastener type on fastener load to account for various track types and locations. Laboratory experimentation was performed to quantify the stiffness of multiple fastening systems and this data was input into a previously validated analytical model to quantify the effect of stiffness on fastener loading. Additional laboratory experimentation was performed to quantify the relationships between both fastening system type and vertical loading and spike strain. While the laboratory data indicate a significant variance in stiffness between fastening systems, the model results indicate that the load transferred to the fastening system is less sensitive. However, spike strain data indicate the load path was affected by fastener type and vertical load. The characterization of longitudinal stiffness of multiple fastening systems and the relationship to spike load as presented can be used to advance track mechanistic-empirical design and improve rail neutral temperature prediction and track buckling models.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 27 Mar 2023 15:08:26 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2119079</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Use of deep convolutional neural networks and change detection technology for railway track inspections</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2100385</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Railroad track inspections conducted in accordance with federal regulations and internal railway operating practices result in significant labor costs and occupy valuable network capacity. These factors, combined with advancements in the field of machine vision, have encouraged a transition from human visual inspections to machine-based alternatives. Commercial machine vision technologies for railway inspection currently exist, and automated analysis approaches—which deliver objective results—are available in some systems. However, they are limited to a “pass/fail” approach through the detection of components which fail to meet maintenance or geometry thresholds, as opposed to being able to detect subtle changes in track conditions to identify evolving problems. To overcome these limitations, this paper presents results from the field deployment and validation of a system that pairs three-dimensional (3D) machine vision with automated change detection technology. The change detection approach uses a deep convolution neural network (DCNN) to accurately characterize track conditions between repeat runs. Current automated track inspection technologies were studied, and the applicability of change detection is discussed. The paper presents the process for 3D image capture, DCNN training, and evaluation by comparing DCNN results to an expert human evaluator. Finally, it presents change detection results for fastener presence and spike height. Results indicate that this technology can successfully identify fasteners and spikes with percent accuracies greater than 98% and that it can successfully generate change detection results for comparison of track condition among runs.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 13 Mar 2023 10:23:38 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2100385</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Screw Spike and Spring Washer Hold-down Force and Resiliency Investigation</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2048487</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Rail Transportation Engineering Center (RailTEC) at the University of Illinois (Illinois) is investigating spike failures in timber tie track to determine the root cause(s) and develop failure prevention strategies. This research is part of an ongoing investigation into spike failures sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that began in 2018. Through modeling, laboratory, and field work, RailTEC has discovered that maintaining friction between tie plates and ties reduces the stress on spikes up to 80 percent (Dersch, 2022). Screw spikes installed with spring washers is one way to ensure that friction is maintained in the fastening system. This report documents the laboratory testing of one, commercially available spring washer fastening system to quantify the spring washer’s resiliency, hold-down force, and torque-to-displacement relationship. The results show that the washer has a limited working range (low resiliency), and the installation torque varies widely. Additional research into washer styles and materials is recommended to develop a more effective spring washer mitigation method for spike failures.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 26 Oct 2022 11:11:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2048487</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Rail Force Measurement and Fastener Load Demand at Horseshoe Curve</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2039899</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In 2022, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Association of American Railroads (AAR) completed short-term field experiments to measure the rail forces in steep grades and high-degree curvature on Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). This experiment was conducted to understand the rail stress distribution and fastener load demand by measuring the dynamic rail forces and the longitudinal rail forces due to temperature changes. Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) performed the field test at Horseshoe Curve, a three-track railroad curve near Altoona, PA. The team installed 12 rail circuit arrays for dynamic rail forces (lateral, longitudinal, and vertical) on all 3 main tracks (i.e., 2 rail circuits on each track). In addition, longitudinal rail force circuits were used along with thermocouples on each rail to measure the static longitudinal rail force changes due to temperature variation. Researchers collected measurements over a 24 hour period. The test showed that the number of consecutive locomotives and braking/tractive effort could affect the dynamic rail forces. This report provides the estimated spike loading using both the measured dynamic rail forces and load distributions from literature. The results showed that both lateral and longitudinal forces contribute to the loading, exceeding the spike fatigue limit and leading to fatigue failures.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 19 Oct 2022 16:36:30 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2039899</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Spike Loading Environment in Various Wood-Tie Fastening Systems</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2027062</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) contracted with Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) to investigate the spike loading environment in various wood-tie fastening systems. The goal was to understand how dynamic loads are transferred to the spikes in wood-tie fastening systems and identify feasible solutions to the spike breakage issue. Field testing was conducted on a six-degree curve at FRA’s Transportation Technology Center (TTC) in Pueblo, CO, in 2021. Researchers instrumented four common wood-tie fastening systems with strain-gaged cut spikes to determine their real-time dynamic bending strains. Results showed that the load carried by some spikes could be higher than the fatigue limit of the spike material. Loads may result in stresses that exceed the spike’s yield strength and lead to permanent spike bending. Specifically, spikes used with elastic fastening systems (without the aid of rail anchors) had the highest peak-to-peak strain levels. In contrast, elastic fastening systems (with rail anchors) and curve-block plates had spike strain levels that were statistically significantly lower even though some spikes still had bending strains exceeding the fatigue limit. The strains of the spikes with the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) standard plates minimally exceeded the fatigue limit.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 05 Oct 2022 12:20:24 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2027062</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Laser-Based Non-destructive Spike Defect Inspection System</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/2004416</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Spikes, together with tie plates and timber ties, are the dominant track components in North American freight railroads. For centuries, spikes, with marginal changes in terms of geometry and material, have consistently provided reliable restrictions to rails. With the varying axle load and operational speed, spikes are subjected to more demanding loading conditions, especially in the territories where tracks have high curvature and anchors are replaced with elastic fasteners. Recent inspections have identified frequent broken spikes in certain tracks. Traditional track inspection methods can hardly identify any broken spikes without manually pulling each spike out, which is impractical. This Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) project aims to develop a low-cost, non-destructive and contact-free intelligent inspection system that is field-deployable on a geometry car, high-rail vehicle, or other type of track inspection platform to identify broken spikes in real-time. Previous research efforts conducted by the University of Illinois and the Transportation Technology Center, Inc., have greatly improved the understanding of the cause of broken spikes and the potential of using contact-type ultrasonic sensors to detect broken spikes in the field. This project first conducted numerical simulations to test the concept of using a laser to excite the spikes and estimate the reflection signals to distinguish broken spikes and good spikes. With the guidance of the numerical simulation results, laboratory experiments were also performed using laser pulses to excite the spike head and using a microphone and air coupled transducer to detect the reflection wave signals. The effect of different laser intensities and focus areas were investigated. Due to the high reflection rate of the spike’s head surface, a limited amount of laser energy penetrated into the spike. An ordinary microphone was not able to record distinguishable signals from the reflection waves from different spikes, even when the laser energy intensity was high enough to cause safety concerns. Fortunately, with guided wave and air-coupled transducer (ACT), the limited reflection wave could be detected and analyzed. Experiments with spikes oriented in both horizontal and vertical directions were performed. With a carefully tuned setup in the laboratory, it was possible to distinguish broken spikes from good spikes.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 08 Aug 2022 17:04:20 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/2004416</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Quantification of vertical, lateral, and longitudinal fastener demand in broken spike track: Inputs to mechanistic-empirical design</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1949016</link>
      <description><![CDATA[To address a recent challenge related to broken spikes in premium elastic fastening systems that have led to at least ten derailments and require manual walking inspections as well as build upon mechanistic-empirical (M-E) design principles for future fastening system component design, this paper quantifies the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal fastening system loads under revenue service traffic in a curve that has regularly experienced spike fastener fatigue failures. Previous data has indicated that the high rail of Track 3 experienced the most failures at this location. The data from this investigation sheds light into why failures are more predominant at this location than others and how the vertical, lateral, and longitudinal loads cannot be considered independently. Specifically, while the magnitude of the applied loading was the lowest on the high rail of Track 3, the threshold for failure was also the lowest given the operations at this location led to unloading of the high rail, thus indirectly highlighting the importance of friction within a fastening system. The data also show the high rail of Track 3 was subjected to the highest L/V load ratios and was an outlier in the typical lateral load reversals applied likely leading to spike stress reversals and thus a shorter fatigue life. Finally, based upon the data, it is recommended that to mitigate spike failures, as well as similar fastener challenges in other track types (e.g. rail seat deterioration, etc.) railroads should ensure trains operate close to the balance speed and use fastening system that transfer loads through friction. This study also provides novel data for M-E design of fastening systems.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jun 2022 17:36:30 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1949016</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Field Investigation of Broken Cut Spikes on Elastic Fasteners Using Instrumented Spikes</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1849511</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In 2019, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Transportation Technology Center, Inc. (TTCI) conducted field experiments to investigate the spike failure mechanism found on elastic fastener tie plates. These experiments took place at the Facility for Accelerated Service Testing (FAST) in Pueblo, CO and at a revenue service site. The specific test locations were chosen from curves where broken spikes were common. To evaluate the real-time bending behavior of cut spikes, researchers developed and installed instrumented spikes in wood crossties. Rail force circuits measured the forces passing trains applied to the rails. Based on the test results, the following key observations were made: (1) The bending strain caused by the train forces or by inserting or removing the spike from a tie could exceed the yield point of the steel. Exceeding the yield point permanently deformed the spike. (2)  The bending strains in spikes on the high rail were larger than those installed on the low rail. (3) The bending strain for the spikes installed in new spike holes was higher than that of the spikes installed in existing spike holes. (4) Spikes experienced the largest bending strains when a wheel load was directly over a tie plate. The spike loads were not evenly distributed among spikes in a plate, especially for the spikes on the high rails. In most cases, one or two spikes in a plate carried most of the applied load. Future work will focus on in-track tests to evaluate how well potential solutions work.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 16 May 2021 16:57:41 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1849511</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Automated Broken Spike Detection – Phase I</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1845808</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Rail spikes connect railroad rails to the supporting crossties and secure tie plates and crossties together. Recent field inspections and observations have revealed broken spike failures (cut spikes and drive/screw spikes) when used with elastic fastener tie plates in mountainous, high-degree curvature territory on North American Class I railroads. Spikes typically break within the crossties, approximately 1 to 1.5 inches below the tie surface, making detection difficult. This study discusses some preliminary efforts to detect the broken spikes using ultrasonic testing (UT) nondestructive evaluation (NDE) approaches. Transportation Technology Center, Inc. performed ultrasonic modeling and simulation to determine and optimize ultrasonic parameters for broken spike detection. Laboratory and in-track testing were also conducted to verify the modeling results and to evaluate the detection accuracy of the UT NDE method. The preliminary results obtained support the continued development of ultrasonic methods for nondestructively, and automatically, detecting broken spikes in track.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2021 17:16:20 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1845808</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Analytical Elastic Modeling of Rail and Fastener Longitudinal Response</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1764087</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The rail fastening system plays a critical role in maintaining proper railroad track geometry by transferring vertical, lateral, and longitudinal forces from the rails to crossties. Broken spikes in elastic fastening systems have been linked to inadequate transfer of longitudinal loads, posing a safety risk for timber crosstie ballasted track. Longitudinal track demand caused by passing trains has been investigated in previous research, but the magnitude and distribution of longitudinal fastener loads is not well understood or documented. To address these track component failures and improve fastener design, this paper presents a validated analytical model that estimates longitudinal rail seat loads, advancing current formulations to focus specifically on the rail seat. The validated method was used to quantify the distribution and magnitude of longitudinal loads in both the rail and fastening system caused by passing trains. Further, this paper quantifies the effect of track stiffness, number of powered locomotives, and wheel spacing on these distributions and magnitudes. This information provides valuable insight into the specific type of spike failures that have led to at least ten derailments and the requirement of manual walking inspections on multiple North American heavy axle load railroads as detailed in this paper. Further, this method can be used to quantify the longitudinal fastener loads for different track conditions to advance the mechanistic-empirical track design philosophy for elastic fastening systems.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 24 Jan 2021 17:25:31 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1764087</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>A peak detection algorithm adopting magnetic sensor signal for rail spike location in tamping machine</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1712566</link>
      <description><![CDATA[When a tamping machine is tamping track ballasts under railway, it is necessary to determine the tamping positions in advance. This study proposes a peak detection algorithm to locate rail spikes with magnetic sensor signals, and then determine the tamping positions. In this algorithm, the authors have performed the downsampling, sliding window, threshold classification, and secondary peak search to complete peak detection. Especially, the authors discuss how a sliding window length, a downsampling frequency, a secondary-search-window length, and other parameters affect the performance of the algorithm. In experiments, the authors use a group of real magnetic sensor signals to evaluate the algorithm. Compared with traditional methods, the proposed algorithm can reduce the false positives and misses of peak detection to 0, while the maximum location error will not more than 1 cm.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 15 Jan 2021 09:31:17 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1712566</guid>
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