Investigation of Bending Test Procedures for Engineered Polymer Composite Railroad Ties

Abstract

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (ERDC-CERL) has been conducting investigations to help develop and evaluate engineered polymer composite railroad ties since 1993. Recent efforts, through funding and support from the Railway Administration, center around track safety issues relative to the use of these new products in mainline heavy-axle-load track. Performance criteria have been developed and published in Chapter 30 of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Associations (AREMA) Manual for Railway Engineering. One item not completely resolved in this engineering guidance is the test method procedure to measure the bending strength and modulus of elasticity (stiffness) of the composite ties. The objective of this investigation is to compare variations in bending strength test methods currently being used to measure strength and modulus values for engineered polymer composite railroad ties.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2016
Accession Number
AD1025122

Entities

People

  • Claire G. Ball

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Composite Materials
  • Construction
  • Elastic Properties
  • Engineered Materials
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Flexural Properties
  • Materials
  • Materials Engineering
  • Materials Science
  • Materials Testing
  • Modulus Of Elasticity
  • Polymer Matrix Composites
  • Railroad Ties
  • Railroads
  • Test Methods
  • Transportation Engineering

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Facility/Structural Engineering.
  • Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Structures.
  • Technical Research and Report Writing.