Engineering Commons^™

Structural Performance Of Heavy Duty Composite Railway Sleeper, Wahid Ferdous, Allan Manalo, Thiru Aravinthan, Gerard Van Erp

Wahid Ferdous

This study investigated the performance of sandwich composites coated with polymer concrete and determine their suitability for heavy duty sleeper application.

Composite Railway Sleepers - New Developments And Opportunities, Wahid Ferdous, Allan Manalo, Thiru Aravinthan, Gerard Van Erp

Wahid Ferdous

Composite sleeper is becoming a suitable alternative for replacing the existing concrete, steel and particularly timber sleeper in both mainline and heavy haul rail network. Composite sleeper technologies are already available in the last 20 years but they have gained limited acceptance by the railway industry. For better understanding of the reasons for their slow uptake in the market, a comparative study was conducted among the existing composite sleepers. Firstly, this paper accumulated information on the performance of commercially available composite sleepers. Secondly, issues on the application and developments of composite sleepers are identified. Thirdly, the ongoing research on the …

Geopolymer Concrete-Filled Pultruded Composite Beams – Concrete Mix Design And Application, Wahid Ferdous, Allan Manalo, Amar Khennane, Obada Kayali

Wahid Ferdous

The limited research on the geopolymer concrete mix design for targeting a specific strength is identified an obstacle for their effective design and wide use. In this paper, a mix design procedure has been proposed for fly-ash based geopolymer concrete and its use as infill hybrid composite beam is investigated. Then, the structural performance of geopolymer concrete filled hybrid composite beam is investigated to determine their possible application in civil infrastructure. Firstly, a detailed procedure of mix design for fly-ash based geopolymer concrete is presented. Secondly, three hybrid beams filled with geopolymer concrete were prepared and tested in a four-point …

Effect Of Beam-Column Joint Stiffness On The Design Of Beams, Wahid Ferdous

Wahid Ferdous

The infrastructure should be design in such a way that ensures safe, serviceable, durable and economic construction. For the beam design, the joints between beam and column is traditionally considered a rigid connection which actually not fully rigid and therefore accounted an extra moment leading to structural over-design and subsequently higher cost of beam construction. This paper proposed a theoretical model for moment and deflection considering the actual stiffness of beam-column joint rather than traditional concept of rigid connection. A concentrated moving load is applied on the beam with three different support conditions such as fixed both end, simply supported …

Failures Of Mainline Railway Sleepers And Suggested Remedies - Review Of Current Practice, Wahid Ferdous, Allan Manalo

Wahid Ferdous

Over the last two decades, the premature failures of traditional railway sleepers have significantly increased the track maintenance costs. The primary obstacle to minimising this problem is the lack of understanding of the mechanism of sleeper degradation. This paper discusses the different deterioration mechanisms for traditional timber, concrete and steel sleepers and the potential protective measures to minimise these problems. This paper exhaustively reviews the failure mechanisms of these three commonly used sleeper materials with suggested solutions. Fungal decay, end splitting and termite attacks has been identified as the principal causes of timber sleeper failures. On the other hand, concrete …

Review Of Failures Of Railway Sleepers And Its Consequences, Wahid Ferdous, Allan Manalo, Thiru Aravinthan, Alex Remennikov

Wahid Ferdous

Railway sleeper is one of the important structure that having problems with high maintenance and replacement costs owing to its early failure. This paper presents the causes of failures of the traditional railway sleepers particularly timber, concrete and steel, and discussed its effect on the railway industry. The review of literature indicates fungal decay, end splitting and termite attack are the typical causes of timber sleeper failure. In case of concrete sleeper, deteriorations are observed because of rail seat abrasion, longitudinal cracking, high impact force and chemical attack. Failures in steel sleepers are mainly due to corrosion and fatigue cracking …

Composite Railway Sleeper: A Cost Effective And Eco-Friendly Alternative, Wahid Ferdous, Allan Manalo, Thiru Aravinthan, Gerard Van Erp

Wahid Ferdous

High maintenance cost, huge carbon-dioxide emission from cement and steel industries and early failures of the traditional timber, concrete and steel sleepers motivated the composite sleepers as an alternative to replace those in the existing rail track. This poster presented the optimised composite railway sleeper concept and their static performance in laboratory scale. Results found that the optimised shape can reduce two-third volume of materials from the traditional rectangular shape and their behaviour is comparable with timber sleeper.

Benefits Of Geopolymer Concrete-Filled Frp Beams And Its Flexural Behavior, Wahid Ferdous, Allan Manalo, Amar Khennane, Obada Kayali

Wahid Ferdous

Structural Optimisation Of Composite Railway Sleeper, Wahid Ferdous, Allan Manalo, Gerard Van Erp

Wahid Ferdous

Hybrid Frp-Concrete Railway Sleeper, Wahid Ferdous, Amar Khennane, Obada Kayali

Wahid Ferdous

The aim of this research was to investigate the feasibility of a hybrid FRP-concrete beam as a rail sleeper. It was hoped that the new design would overcome some of the sustainability issues associated with traditional sleepers. The hybrid system consisted of a Rectangular Hollow Section (RHS) pultruded profile filled with geo- polymer concrete. The specimens were tested in a four-point bending setup to determine the flexural properties such as the bending modulus (E) and modulus of rupture (MOR). It was found that the proposed composite beam satisfied the minimum flexural requirements for composite railway sleepers as stated in the …

Static Flexural Behaviour Of Fly Ash-Based Geopolymer Composite Beam: An Alternative Railway Sleeper, Wahid Ferdous

Wahid Ferdous

These days, the most commonly used materials for railway sleepers are timber, concrete and steel. High maintenance cost, installation issues, deterioration of materials, and environmental considerations are among the factors that prompt research and industry to seek a different and more efficient system. This research was undertaken with the aim of developing a material for sleepers which may overcome some of these problems. Through a comprehensive survey of the literature, it was decided to propose and investigate a sleeper system composed of fly ash-based geopolymer concrete and pultruded FRP profile composites. Although the engineering properties of fly ash-based geopolymer concrete …