Project 3.5: Prevention of Stress-Induced Failures of Prestressed Concrete Crossties of the Railroad Track Structure

Project Abstract:

The problem we are trying to solve is to understand and mitigate premature failures of prestressed concrete crossties (PSCCs), which are an essential structural component of a railroad track structure. The objectives of the project are to identify the main mechanisms of horizontal cracks upon de-tensioning prestressing wires with respect to various geometrical/mechanical parameters and to develop more durable bonding mechanism between concrete and prestressing wires using engineered cementitious materials.

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Sponsors:
University Transportation Centers Program, Department of Transportation
Western New England University

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Implementation of Research Outcomes:
A 12,000 psi compressive strength ECM has been developed by using locally available resources including aggregates. It provides higher bonding strength and higher corrosion resistance. An in-house code using a parallel computing algorithm was successfully deployed to analyze large-scale numerical 3D PSCC models. Numerical models of the 100~145 million DoFs were analyzed with 1000 cores and the analysis time was between 5 minutes ~ 25 minutes. The results indicate that tension damage is more dominant than compression damage. The geometrical properties such as shape and depth of the indentation affect the performance of PSCCs.

Impacts and Benefits of Implementation:
This proposed study aims to improve the durability and the life-extension of the railroad track structure by improving material properties, design practices, and identifying failure mechanisms.

Related Links:
https://www.tidc-utc.org/kb/project-3-5-prevention-of-stress-induced-failures-of-prestressed-concrete-crossties-of-the-railroad-track-structure/

This work partially used XSEDE resource – Stampede2-TACC – through allocation #MSSI180002.

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