Dong-Ho Choi/ Ho-Sung Na
International Journal of Railway, vol. 3, no. 4, pp.126-133, 2010

Abstract : The thermal buckling analysis of curved continuous welded rail (CWR) is studied for the lateral buckling prevention. This study includes a thermal buckling theory which accounts for both thermal and vehicle loading effects in the evalu¬ation of track stability. The parameters include rail size, track lateral resistance, track longitudinal and torsional stiff¬nesses, initial misalignment amplitude and wavelength, track curvature, tie-ballast friction coefficient and truck center spacing. Parametric studies are performed to evaluate the effects of the individual parameters on the upper and lower critical buckling temperatures. The results show that the upper critical buckling temperature is highly affected by the uplift due to vehicle loads. This study provides a guideline for the improvement of stability for dynamic buckling in curved CWR track.

Keyword : Thermal stability, Lateral buckling, Continuous welded rail, Critical buckling temperature