Analysis of a typical railway turnout sleeper system using grillage beam analogy

A simplified grillage beam analogy was performed to investigate the behaviour of railway turnout sleeper system with a low value of elastic modulus on different support moduli. This study aimed at determining an optimum modulus of elasticity for an emerging technology for railway turnout application - fibre composites sleeper. The finite element simulation suggests that the changes in modulus of elasticity of sleeper, E"s"l"e"e"p"e"r and the sleeper support modulus, U"s have a significant influence on the behaviour of turnout sleepers. The increase in U"s from 10 to 40MPa resulted in a 15% reduction in the bending moment while the increase in E"s"l"e"e"p"e"r from 1GPa to 10GPa has resulted in almost 75% increase in the bending moment. The shear forces in turnout sleepers is not sensitive to both the changes of the E"s"l"e"e"p"e"r and U"s while the sleeper with low E"s"l"e"e"p"e"r tend to undergo greater settlement into the ballast. An E"s"l"e"e"p"e"r of 4GPa was found optimal for an alternative fibre composite turnout sleeper provided that the U"s is at least 20MPa from the consideration of sleeper ballast pressure and maximum vertical deflection. It was established that the turnout sleeper has a maximum bending moment of 19kN-m and a shear force of 158kN under service conditions.

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