In-situ investigation of the behaviour of a French conventional railway platform

Concerning the 30,000 km French conventional railway network (94% of the entire network), the speed is currently limited to 220 km/h as maximum, whereas for the 1,800 km high speed lines, the speed can go up to 250 - 320 km/h. Nowadays, there is a growing need to reduce the travel time and improve the service by increasing the speed limits on the conventional network. This paper aims to study the influence of train speed on the mechanical behaviour of an experimental site representative of the French conventional network. Emphasis is put on the behaviour of the interlayer soil. The selected experimentation site is located near Vierzon (Centre/FR). More than 40 sensors, including accelerometers and soil pressure gauges, have been installed. A testing campaign has been performed with a fully instrumented experimental intercity train composed of a locomotive and seven coaches running at different speeds (60 – 100 – 140 – 160 – 180 and 200 km/h). This campaign has revealed that when the train speed is increased, the loads transmitted to the platform increase. Moreover, these loads are amplified at the depth of interlayer soil. Indeed, the upgrade of limit speed of a line leads an increase of the vertical soil pressure and the vertical acceleration in the soil. The acceleration data obtained from the accelerometers will be used to determine the maximum vertical strain induced in the interlayer soil for different train speeds.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Alternate title: In Situ Investigation of Behavior of French Conventional Railway Platform. This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFS20 Soils and Rock Instrumentation.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Transportation Research Board

    500 Fifth Street, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20001
  • Authors:
    • Lamas-Lopez, Francisco
    • Cui, Yu-Jun
    • Costa d'Aguiar, Sofia
    • Calon, Nicolas
    • Robinet, Alain
    • Canou, Jean
    • Dupla, Jean-Claude
    • Tang, Anh-Minh
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2015

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 16p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01551270
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 15-1076
  • Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Jan 27 2015 11:22AM