• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.1179-1189
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• 2015

Continuous welded rail on bridge structure experiences typically a large amount of additional longitudinal axial forces due to longitudinal track-bridge interaction under temperature and traction/braking load effect. In order to reduce the additional axial forces, special type of fastener, such as ZLR and RLR or rail expansion joint should be applied. Sliding slab track system is known to reduce the effect of track-bridge interaction by the application of a sliding layer between slab track and bridge structure. This study presents track-bridge interaction analysis results of the sliding slab track and compares them with conventional fixed slab track on bridges. The result shows that the sliding slab track can significantly reduce the additional axil forces of the continuously welded rail, and the difference is more significant for long and continuous span bridge.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.169-177
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• 2016

Sliding slab track system, which consists of low friction sliding layer between track slab and bridge deck, is recently devised to reduce track-bridge interaction effect of continuously welded rail(CWR) without applying special devices such as rail expansion joint(REJ). In this study, a series of track-bridge interaction analyses of a long-span bridge with sliding slab track and REJ are performed respectively and the results are compared. The bridge model includes PSC box girder bridge with 9 continuous spans, and steel-concrete composite girder bridge with 2 continuous spans. The total length of the bridge model is 1,205m, and the maximum spacing between the two fixed supports is 825m. Analyses results showed that the sliding slab track system is highly effective on interaction reduction since lower rail additional axial stress is resulted than REJ application. Additionally, horizontal reaction forces in fixed supports were also reduced compared to the results of REJ application. However, higher slab axial forces were developed in the sliding slab track due to the temperature load. Therefore, track slab section of the sliding slab track system should be carefully designed against slab axial forces.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.241-247
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• 2017

Railway bridges with continuously welded rail have a limitation of span length due to track-bridge interaction. In order to overcome this, a sliding slab track system has been developed that comprises with a low-frictional sliding layer between the bridge deck and the track slab to isolate the longitudinal behavior between the bridge and the track. In this study, a real scale track system is prepared to experimentally evaluate the longitudinal frictional behavior. Applied loading rates were 0.2, 1.0, 5.0 and 10mm/min; vertical mass on the track are track slab only, 5,000 and 10,000kg added mass, respectively. Test results showed that the resulting frictional coefficients varied from 0.22 to 0.33. In addition, 10,000 cycle loadings were applied to simulate repetitive sliding to represent 30 years of service life. The frictional coefficient increase was measured and found to be 7% of that of the initial loading stage, which means that the sliding layer is adequate to provide low-frictional behavior for the sliding slab track system. Effects of changes of the frictional coefficient of the sliding layer were analyzed by rail-structure interaction analysis.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2017

Recently several researches have been conducted to develop sliding track system in which friction between concrete track and bridge slab has been reduced. This paper investigated shear load carrying capacity of lateral supporting concrete block which should be implemented to resist lateral load due to train in sliding track system. In order to evaluate shear load carrying capacity of lateral supporting concrete block, analytical model has been developed considering concrete friction and rebar dowel action along construction joint. The proposed model predicted test results on the shear load carrying capacity from literature conservatively by 13~23% because effect of aggregate interlock along crack surface was neglected. Since construction joint status is ambiguous on construction site, it can be concluded that the proposed model can be used for reasonable design of lateral supporting concrete block. Based on the proposed model, design proposal for lateral supporting concrete block has been established.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.63 no.6
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• pp.713-723
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• 2017

As a new type of ballastless track, longitudinal continuous slab track (CST) has been widely used in China. It can partly isolate the interaction between the ballastless track and the bridge and thus the rail expansion device would be unnecessary. Compared with the traditional track, CST is composed of multi layers of continuous structures and various connecting components. In order to investigate the performance of CST on a long-span bridge, the spatial finite element model considering each layer of the CST structure, connecting components, bridge, and subgrade is established and verified according to the theory of beam-rail interaction. The nonlinear resistance of materials between multilayer track structures is measured by experiments, while the temperature gradients of the bridge and CST are based on the long-term measured data. This study compares the force distribution rules of ballasted track and CST as respectively applied to a long span bridge. The effects of different damage conditions on CST structures are also discussed. The results show that the additional rail stress is small and the CST structure has a high safety factor under the measured temperature load. The rail expansion device can be cancelled when CST is adopted on the long span bridge. Beam end rotation caused by temperature gradient and vertical load will have a significant effect on the rail stress of CST. The additional flexure stress should be considered with the additional expansion stress simultaneously when the rail stress of CST requires to be checked. Both the maximum sliding friction coefficient of sliding layer and cracking condition of concrete plate should be considered to decide the arrangement of connecting components and the ultimate expansion span of the bridge when adopting CST.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.78 no.2
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• pp.163-174
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• 2021

Track-bridge interaction has become an essential part in the design of bridges and rails in terms of modern railways. As a unique ballastless slab track, the longitudinal continuous slab track (LCST) or referred to as the China railway track system Type-II (CRTS II) slab track, demonstrates a complex force mechanism. Therefore, a comprehensive track-bridge interaction study between multi-span simply supported beam bridges and the LCST is presented in this work. In specific, we have developed an integrated finite element model to investigate the overall interaction effects of the LCST-bridge system subjected to the actions of temperature changes, traffic loads, and braking forces. In that place, the deformation patterns of the track and bridge, and the distributions of longitudinal forces and the interfacial shear stress are studied. Our results show that the additional rail stress has been reduced under various loads and the rail's deformation has become much smoother after the transition of the two continuous structural layers of the LCST. However, the influence of the temperature difference of bridges is significant and cannot be ignored as this action can bend the bridge like the traffic load. The uniform temperature change causes the tensile stress of the concrete track structure and further induce cracks in them. Additionally, the influences of the friction coefficient of the sliding layer and the interfacial bond characteristics on the LCST's performance are discussed. The systematic study presented in this work may have some potential impacts on the understanding of the overall mechanical behavior of the LCST-bridge system.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.15-22
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• 2013

By changing from ballasted track to concrete slab track, new type railroad subgrade is strongly required to satisfy strict regulations for displacement limitations of concrete slab track. In this study, sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the design characteristics of new type reinforced railroad subgrade, which could minimize residual settlement after track construction and maintain its function as a permanent railway roadbed under large cyclic load. With developed design program, the safety analysis (circular slip failure, overturning, and sliding) and the evaluation of internal forces developed in structural members (wall and reinforcement) were performed according to vertical installation spacing and stiffness of short and long geotextile reinforcement. Based on this study, we could evaluate the applicabilities of 0.4 H short geogrid length with 0.4 m vertical installation spacing of geotextile as reinforcement and what the ground conditions are for the reinforced railroad subgrade. And also, we could grasp design characteristics of the reinforced railroad subgrade, such as the importance of connecting structure between wall and reinforcement, boundary conditions allowing displacement at wall ends to minimize maximum bending moment of wall.