Experimental Study of Prestressed Concrete Track Slab at Railroad Crossings

Abstract

Currently, the prestressed concrete track slabs are testing installed at the field to replace the reinforced concrete track slabs at railroad crossings in Vietnam. Prestressed concrete track slabs used for 1000 mm gauge. The dimensions of each slab were designed with a length, width, and height of 2.5 m, 1.0 m, and 0.33m, respectively. This paper presents experimental measurements to analyze the behavior of the prestressed concrete track slab at railroad crossings under the action of train and truck dynamic load. Experiment measurements were implemented at the site. Eight strain gauges were mounted at three sections of the track slab to measure the deformation. HL-93 truck load and TY-7E train load were used in the test. The results show the eccentricity of the gravity center point of the prestressed wires to the centroidal axis of the transformed area. The deviation ratio between experimental and theoretical results is from 0.88% ÷ 1.25%. These results can be used to optimize the design process and limit cracks. In addition, tensile and compressive stresses in slabs are smaller than the allowable values. The results show that this track slab meets the requirements of durability and strength under the action of train and truck dynamic load.

Keywords

• track slab
• experimental
• railroad crossings
• 1000 mm gauge
• dynamic load