Development of Guideway Sidewall Using Ultra High Strength Fiber Reinforced Concrete

In the Superconducting MAGLEV System, a lot of ground coils are installed for propulsion, levitation and guidance of the vehicles. Four types of guideway sidewall have been installed to examine the structural safety performance through running tests on the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line. The latest type is so called self-standing guideway sidewall with a cross-section of reverse T-shape. To meet the purpose of further cost reduction, its weight was reduced in comparison with former types of guideway, which brought easy handling and precise installation. This paper focuses on newly developed guideway sidewall for the further weight reduction using ultra high strength fiber reinforced concrete (UFC). No rebars are used in the guideway taking advantage of the mechanical properties of UFC, which makes the cross-section thinner. Thus the weight of new guideway reduces by 42% compared with the self-standing guideway. The structural safety was verified through the various loading and running tests.