The use of sub-ballast vibration mats on railway reinforced concrete superstructures with ballast riding and mating sections of the roadbed

This article discusses the use of vibration mats on the superstructures of railway bridges with ballast riding and mating sections of the roadbed. Numerical experiments were carried out using finite element modeling in the Midas FEA software package. The article presents the results of calculating the stiffness of various types of sub-rail base, different design of the rail grating, a ballast layer with different modulus of elasticity and sub-ballast vibration mats laid under the ballast. Spatial diagrams of vertical pressure along the surface of the ballast trough slab were constructed, taking into account the rigidity of the under-rail base, indicating graphs of pressure distribution through the elements of the superstructure of the track in the thickness of the ballast layer. It has been established that the rigidity of the under-rail base in the presence of vibrating mats decreases, which leads to a decrease in the ordinate value of the spatial diagram of vertical pressure along the ballast trough slab, by including a longer section of the rail and sleeper grid in the work. A calculation of the load-carrying capacity of the ballast trough slab in the presence of vibrating mats was carried out, as a result of which an increase in the minimum classes for the load-carrying capacity of the ballast trough slab up to 30% was noted. The dynamic calculation indicates the presence of subsidence of no more than 20 mm with a tonnage production of up to 330 million tons gross on an equally elastic path with mats on the superstructure and approaches, which ensures equal elasticity of the path, the absence of “bridge pits” and equal resource life of the path in the area where the embankment meets the bridge structure.

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