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Experimental and Numerical Studies on the Behaviour of Broad-Gauge

Railway Sleepers in Static Bending Condition: Select Proceedings of ICSCBM
2018

Chapter · January 2019

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-13-3317-0_70

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Experimental and Numerical Studies
on the Behaviour of Broad-Gauge
Railway Sleepers in Static Bending
Condition

Chandrashekhar Lakavath, Rangaswamy Allam

and B Kondraivendhan

Abstract The present study shows the prediction of load-deflection behaviour of

monoblock pre-stressed concrete railway sleeper under static bending test using
ABAQUS. The result obtained from the numerical studies is compared with
experimental results and Research Designs and Standards Organization (RDSO)
provisions. Numerical studies in ABAQUS are carried out in two stages:
(1) pre-stressing and (2) static bending test. During simulation, concrete is modelled
as three-dimensional (3D) stress element with damage plasticity model and strand is
modelled as 3D truss elements with plasticity model. The results of each model are
stored and transferred to subsequent models by restart request feature in ABAQUS.
Both the numerical and experimental results are in good agreement and well within
the provisions of RDSO.

Keywords ABAQUS Concrete damage plasticity Monoblock concrete sleepers


Static bending test Steam curing

1 Introduction

The traditional material used to manufacture railway sleepers was concrete and in
some cases, steel and they were used generally in designs for over 50 years [1].
Sleepers play an important role in the railway track network by holding the rail in
its position and transferring load from rail to ballast. To fasten the concrete sleeper

C. Lakavath (&)
B. Kondraivendhan

Applied Mechanics Department, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat,
Gujarat, India
e-mail: [email protected]
B. Kondraivendhan
e-mail: [email protected]
R. Allam
Patil Rail Infrastructure Private Limited, Hyderabad, India
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 781

B. B. Das and N. Neithalath (eds.), Sustainable Construction
and Building Materials, Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering 25,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3317-0_70
782 C. Lakavath et al.

production process in precast industry, the manufacturing is carried out by stress

bench or longline method with accelerated curing/steam curing technique. This
technique helps to achieve 28 days concrete compressive strength in 12 h curing
period. In this process, the rise in maximum temperature was kept as 71 °C. If
steaming temperature exceeds 71 °C, these concrete sleepers start cracking after 6–
9 years of their manufacturing, even if they are not in use [2]. The replacement of
existing sleeper on track site is based on damage and cracks in service sleepers.
Rezaie et al. [3] studied the principles of fracture mechanics in pre-stressed
concrete sleepers with different initiation crack lengths varying between 0 and
45 mm using ABAQUS. Similarly, Gao et al. [4] studied the track mileage with
concrete crossties at University of Illinois and compared the American Railway
Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) recommended
practices with the Australian Standard’s (AS) current flexural design methods and it
is observed that rail-seat loads were not transferred vertically to the neutral axis but
distributed at an angle of 45° angle to the neutral axis. This analysis helps in
optimisation of railway sleeper design. Arab et al. [5] used the Concrete Damaged
Plasticity (CDP) model for the analysis of pre-stressed concrete beam. Pre-stressing
strand is modelled in two methods such as extrusion technique and embedment
technique. The results from the embedded models are found to be equivalent when
compared to the corresponding extruded simulations.
Steam curing provides 90% of the design compressive strength within 12–15 h.
If the temperature of the steam curing chamber exceeds 70 °C [6–8], premature
cracks develops and it leads to delayed ettringite’s formation (DEF), which causes
cracks in concrete. In the process of optimization of broad-gauge railway sleeper,
static bending tests are performed for rail seat and its results are validated using
commercial finite element package ABAQUS.

2 Experimental Program

2.1 Casting Procedure

In India, concrete sleeper industry uses high early strength cement which is a
special grade (S) cement (M53-S) for the production of concrete sleepers. M55
grade of concrete is used to manufacture broad-gauge (BG) railway sleeper in India
as per RDSO/T-39 [9]. The pre-stressed concrete sleepers are cast at a precast
industry using ready-mix concrete and it is designed as per the guidelines of
IS:10262-2009 [10]. The specimens are designed to have a characteristic cubic
compressive strength of 55 MPa as shown in Table 2 and the concrete-mix pro-
portions are mentioned in Table 1. The cement of 463 kg/m3 is adopted in mix
design based on T-39 specification.
The mixing sequence is adopted in such a way as to avoid lumps or dry concrete
formation. The typical procedure followed for mixing concrete is: (1) Mix dry
Experimental and Numerical Studies on the Behaviour … 783

Table 1 Concrete mix design (M55 grade)

Content 20 mm 10 mm Fine aggregate Cement Water/cement
Quantity (kg/m3) 926 463 463 463 0.33

ingredients (100% of fine aggregate + 100% course aggregate + 50% of water),

(2) Add 50% of cement and admixture, continue mixing, (3) Add remaining 50% of
cement + 50% of water and mix. Before concreting, prepare benches for concreting
as shown in Fig. 1 and fill concrete layer by layer simultaneously vibrating all the
moulds to compact concrete properly by using vibrators of 9000 + 4% revolutions/
minute capacity, which are located at bottom of the mould.
After concreting, the cast benches are shifted to accelerated curing chambers as
shown in Fig. 1d. Steam was supplied to sleepers by pipe system as shown in
Fig. 2b at atmospheric pressure in four stages, till the concrete attains a compressive
strength of 40 N/mm2 [9]. It provides an additional advantage over other curing
methods, as in this method both heat and moisture is supplied for curing. It is
archived by constructing closed system in which the steam is circulated through
holes in distribution pipes. Steam/accelerated curing consists of four stages:
(1) pre-steaming, (2) raising period, (3) constant period, (4) cooling period. The
steam cycle applied in this study is mentioned in Fig. 2a. From the literature survey,
it is concluded that instead of controlling maximum temperature in chambers,
pre-steaming period can be increased to around 3–4 h and the rate of rise of

Fig. 1 Casting sequence of monoblock pre-stressed concrete sleeper by stress bench method
a mould preparation, b stretching of pre-tensioned wire by hydraulic jock, c concreting,
d accelerated curing, e demoulding, f submerged curing
784 C. Lakavath et al.

Fig. 2 Steam curing of railway sleepers a steam curing cycles, b steam curing chambers
schematic view

temperature is 10–15 °C/h and rate of fall of temperature is 10 °C/h for better
results in strength and crack control.
Before sending benches to demoulding section, cube strength of each steam
curing chambers should be checked and it should attain at least 40 MPa strength.
After reaching minimum strength only, the sleeper is sent to de-tensioning section.
After de-tensioning, the sleepers are cured by underwater curing for 14 days to
achieve design strength in sleepers. The steam curing and underwater curing
strengths of cubes were mentioned in Table 2.

2.2 Instrumentation and Static Bending Test

Pre-stressed railway sleepers were tested under static loading condition with the
help of testing frame as shown in Fig. 3. Frame is attached with two flexible
hydraulic jocks having capacity of 500 kN each. Load is applied at the rail seat at a
rate of 30 kN/min. To measure deflection due to applied load, the dial gauge is used
at centre of the rail seat. All sleepers are tested according to the Research Design

Table 2 Concrete cube strength after steam curing and under water curing
Steam curing (12 h) Under water curing (14 days)
Cube Weight Coefficient Standard Cube Weight Coefficient Standard
strength (kg) of variation deviation strength (kg) of variation deviation
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa) (MPa)
46.27 8.47 0.98 0.45 64.93 8.52 1.26 0.84
46.27 8.50 67.51 8.51
45.56 8.48 66.53 8.49
45.29 8.49 66.27 8.53
45.30 8.50 65.96 8.54
Experimental and Numerical Studies on the Behaviour … 785

Fig. 3 i Overall test setup a test frame, b hydraulic jack, c dial gauge, d railway sleeper, ii
rail-seat test setup

and Standards Organization RDSO/T-39 provision. The first crack occurred at a

load of 241 kN with deflection of 1.6 mm. The load-deflection behaviour of rail-
way sleeper at rail seat is shown in Fig. 9b. The comparison of test results with
RDSO provision and numerical results was mentioned in Table 7.

3 Finite Element Modelling

3.1 Concrete in Compression

Concrete shows highly non-linear behaviour under tension as well as in compres-

sion, due to its cracking and plasticity nature. The concrete behaves elastic up to its
proportional limit. After reaching its capacity (tensile or compressive strength), it
will fail in brittle manner [11]. Pre-stressed railway sleepers are modelled with
concrete damage plasticity (CDP) model. Three-dimensional solid brick element
(C3D8R) is used to simulate concrete behaviour in ABAQUS. Solid model of
concrete section is created in AutoCAD and imported to ABAQUS. For stress–
strain curve of concrete in compression, Hognestad model Eq. (1) is used. Stress–
strain curve of M55 grade concrete is shown in Fig. 4a. The damage parameter in
compression (dc) is calculated based on Eq. (2). The damage factor versus plastic
strain of M55 grade concrete is shown in Fig. 4b was used in this simulation.
"

 #
ec2 ec2 2
fc ¼ fck 2  ð1Þ
e0 e0


fc
dc ¼ 1  ð2Þ
fck

where
786 C. Lakavath et al.

Fig. 4 M55 grade concrete behaviour a Stress–strain behaviour of concrete in compression,

b plastic strain-damage factor in compression

fck is characteristic compressive strength,

ec2 compressive strain,
eo is peak strain of concrete,
dc is damage parameter in compression.

3.2 Concrete in Tension

The stress–strain behaviour of concrete in tension is predicted by Belarbi and Hsu

Model [12]. It consists of two phases, one is uncracked region which is the linear
part, and the second one is the cracked region which is the nonlinear (softening)
part as mentioned in Eqs. (3) and (4). Damage parameter is calculated based on
Eq. (5). The stress–strain behaviour and damage parameters are shown in Fig. 5.

ft ¼ et Ec if et  ecr ð3Þ

0:4
ecr
ft ¼ fcr if et [ ecr ð4Þ
et


ft
dt ¼ 1  ð5Þ
fcr

where Ec is modulus of elasticity of concrete, ft is tensile strength of concrete, fcr is

cracking stress of concrete, et tensile strain, ecr is cracking strain of concrete, dt is
damage parameter in tension.
Experimental and Numerical Studies on the Behaviour … 787

Fig. 5 M55 grade concrete behaviour a Stress–strain behaviour of concrete in tension, b plastic
strain-damage factor in tension

3.3 Plasticity Parameters

The plasticity behaviour of concrete depends upon four parameters such as dilation
angle (u), eccentricity (e), ratio of biaxial and uniaxial compressive strength (fbo/
fco), ratio of deviatory stress in uniaxial tension to uniaxial compression (Kc) [13].
Viscosity parameter (l) is considered in this study to encounter convergence error.
Constants used in this study are shown in Table 3.

3.4 Pre-stressing Strand

Un-coated stress-relieved strands (3 mm  3 ply) are used to manufacture mono-

block railway sleepers. The force of 27 kN is applied to each strand (18No). To
model this strands behaviour in simulation, plasticity parameter was considered
since its behaviour is ductile in nature. Wire element (T3D2) is used to simulate
strand property and plasticity strain of strand with respect to stress is selected for
strands as shown in Fig. 6b. The elastic properties of strands used in ABAQUS to
simulate its behvaiour is detailed in Table 4.

Table 3 Concrete damaged plasticity model (CDPM) parameter

Dilation angle (u) Eccentricity (e) fbo/fco Kc Viscosity parameter (l)
31° 0.1 1.16 0.667 0.0001

Table 4 Mechanical Avg. tensile strength (MPa) 1860

properties of strand
Area of cross section (mm2) 21.21
Modulus of elasticity (MPa) 196,500
Poisson’s ratio (c) 0.30
788 C. Lakavath et al.

Fig. 6 a Uniaxial tensile strength of strand by FTM, b stress–strain curve of strands

Stress–strain behaviour is captured by strands with the help of servo-controlled

fatigue testing machine (FTM) as shown in Fig. 6a. The physical properties of
strand are measured as per IS6006-1983 [14] and physical properties of strand used
in this experimentation is mentioned in Table 5. The pre-stress of 1273 MPa is
applied to each strand in predefined field in ABAQUS, due to which the precom-
pression is embedded in concrete elements.

3.5 Simulation Models

To simulate real behaviour of pre-stressed concrete sleepers from manufacturing to

testing, staged analysis was performed. (1) Pre-stressing and (2) Static Bending Test
(SBT). As shown in Fig. 7. These two models are simulated one by one, and during
this process the first model result is transferred to second model by restart request
feature in ABAQUS. To apply loading and boundary conditions, different steps are
created in each model. Based on convergence criteria, the minimum and maximum
increment is set as 0.001 and 0.25 units, respectively.
Boundary conditions (Ux = Uy = Uz = 0) for Static Bending Test (SBT) and
first crack prediction are shown in Fig. 8. Summary of element types and inter-
action properties used in simulation is mentioned in Table 6.

4 Results and Discussion

Due to the application of pre-stress of 1273 MPa in each strand, the chamber in
downward direction was 3 mm. The testing of rail seat was carried out with the help
of test frame as shown in Fig. 3.
Table 5 Physical properties of strand
Size Lay-length Nominal mass Dia. of individual 0.2% proof Breaking % of Relaxation at
(mm) (72–108) (kg/m) wire (mm) load (kN) load (kN) elongation 100 h
3 ply  3 mm 93 0.167 3.01 36.8 40.40 5.66 3.0%
Experimental and Numerical Studies on the Behaviour …
789
790 C. Lakavath et al.

Fig. 7 Analysis stages of BG railway sleeper a prestressing, b SBT

Fig. 8 Test setup for static bending load test and FEM model with support condition

Table 6 Summary of Component Concrete Strand

element type and interaction
Interaction type Slave Master
(embedded) surface surface
Element types C3D8R T3D2

Load versus deflection behaviour obtained from test results were shown in
Fig. 9b. The experimental results and RDSO/T-39 provisions are presented in
Table 7. It is observed that first crack occurred at 241 kN with a deflection of
1.6 mm. Similar failure mode and load-deflection behaviour was predicted in
ABAQUS as shown in Fig. 8.
Experimental and Numerical Studies on the Behaviour … 791

Table 7 Comparison of experimental, RDSO/T-39 and FEM results

Sleeper Rail-seat bottom
Cracking load (kN) Failure load (kN)
Broad gauge (T-39) 230 370
Broad gauge (experimental) 241 375
Broad gauge (F.E.M) 248 402

Fig. 9 a Displacement along the length of BG railway sleeper, b load-deflection curve of

broad-gauge railway sleeper at rail seat

5 Conclusions

Pre-stressed concrete sleepers (PCS) are most commonly used in Indian railways,
especially in high speed and heavy haul tracks, PCS plays an important role in track
performance. Hence, static bending test was performed to understand the behaviour
in static loading condition. The broad-gauge railway sleepers were tested in rail-seat
bottom condition as per RDSO/T-39 provision.
1. Based on cube strength results, it can be concluded as 80% of the design
strength was achieved due to 12 h of steam curing.
2. After steam curing, 40% improvement in compressive strength was observed
due to 14 days of underwater curing.
3. Numerical (ABAQUS) and experimental results are in good agreement. Hence,
the simulation steps followed in this study can be used to analyse the
broad-gauge railway sleepers in static bending condition.

Acknowledgements Authors would like to thank Mr. Patil Rail Infrastructure Private Limited,
Hyderabad and Dr. S. Suriya Prakash (IIT Hyderabad) for their help to complete this work.
 792 C. Lakavath et al.

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