{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/101134"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/101134","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Analysis of the design of railroad track superstructure components for rail transit applications","abstract":"An extensive study of the performance of railroad superstructure in rail transit systems was conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) as part of a research program funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Focusing on field characterization of the performance of prestressed monoblock concrete crossties and premium elastic fastening systems, this project aimed to quantify the behavior of the aforementioned track superstructure elements under different rail transit loading conditions. Instrumentation was deployed at three different North American rail transit agencies; on a light rail transit system, on a heavy rail transit system and on a shared corridor with both commuter rail and freight train traffic, targeting specific aspects for each of the track components included in the study. Extensive field monitoring spanned over several months for all the sites and large data sets were developed. Flexural performance results of crossties under light rail loading conditions were compared with projected design capacities obtained from the application of current design standards, and a structural reliability analysis (SRA) was employed to study the flexural capacity of the sleeper design, calculating the probability of failures. Furthermore, results from an extensive field study of temperature effects on the flexural behavior of rail transit concrete crossties is presented. The temperature study comprised the analysis of the relationship between temperature in the crosstie and the ambient temperature, the effect of curling due to temperature gradient on the flexural performance of concrete crossties, and the potential additional stresses due to nonlinear temperature gradient, shedding additional light on their effect on the design of prestressed monoblock concrete crossties. To complete the railroad superstructure analysis, rail displacements of different fastening system designs and under varied loading scenarios were analyzed and compared. This thesis aimed to provide additional insight into the design of railroad track components for rail transit applications. Current design methodologies used in the rail transit industry do not always lead to accurate, optimal designs. To aid in closing this gap and improving the efficiency of designs, this thesis proposes a probabilistic-based design approach, quantifies the effect of temperature on concrete crosstie flexural behavior, and presents the advantages of using field instrumentation to analyze the behavior of railroad track components.","abstract_html":"An extensive study of the performance of railroad superstructure in rail transit systems was conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) as part of a research program funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Focusing on field characterization of the performance of prestressed monoblock concrete crossties and premium elastic fastening systems, this project aimed to quantify the behavior of the aforementioned track superstructure elements under different rail transit loading conditions. Instrumentation was deployed at three different North American rail transit agencies; on a light rail transit system, on a heavy rail transit system and on a shared corridor with both commuter rail and freight train traffic, targeting specific aspects for each of the track components included in the study. Extensive field monitoring spanned over several months for all the sites and large data sets were developed. Flexural performance results of crossties under light rail loading conditions were compared with projected design capacities obtained from the application of current design standards, and a structural reliability analysis (SRA) was employed to study the flexural capacity of the sleeper design, calculating the probability of failures. Furthermore, results from an extensive field study of temperature effects on the flexural behavior of rail transit concrete crossties is presented. The temperature study comprised the analysis of the relationship between temperature in the crosstie and the ambient temperature, the effect of curling due to temperature gradient on the flexural performance of concrete crossties, and the potential additional stresses due to nonlinear temperature gradient, shedding additional light on their effect on the design of prestressed monoblock concrete crossties. To complete the railroad superstructure analysis, rail displacements of different fastening system designs and under varied loading scenarios were analyzed and compared. This thesis aimed to provide additional insight into the design of railroad track components for rail transit applications. Current design methodologies used in the rail transit industry do not always lead to accurate, optimal designs. To aid in closing this gap and improving the efficiency of designs, this thesis proposes a probabilistic-based design approach, quantifies the effect of temperature on concrete crosstie flexural behavior, and presents the advantages of using field instrumentation to analyze the behavior of railroad track components.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Canga Ruiz, Alvaro Emilio"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Civil Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lange, David A.","Edwards, John Riley","Qian, Yu"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-09-04T20:33:56Z","date_published":"2018-09-04T20:33:56Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:38Z","subjects":["concrete crosstie","temperature effect","rail displacements"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2018 Alvaro Canga Ruiz"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101134","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lange, David A.","Edwards, John Riley","Qian, Yu"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Canga Ruiz, Alvaro Emilio"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2018-09-04T20:33:56Z","2020-09-05T09:15:16Z","2018-04-25","2018-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Civil Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["concrete crosstie","temperature effect","rail displacements"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2018 Alvaro Canga Ruiz"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101134"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["An extensive study of the performance of railroad superstructure in rail transit systems was conducted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) as part of a research program funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Focusing on field characterization of the performance of prestressed monoblock concrete crossties and premium elastic fastening systems, this project aimed to quantify the behavior of the aforementioned track superstructure elements under different rail transit loading conditions. Instrumentation was deployed at three different North American rail transit agencies; on a light rail transit system, on a heavy rail transit system and on a shared corridor with both commuter rail and freight train traffic, targeting specific aspects for each of the track components included in the study. Extensive field monitoring spanned over several months for all the sites and large data sets were developed. Flexural performance results of crossties under light rail loading conditions were compared with projected design capacities obtained from the application of current design standards, and a structural reliability analysis (SRA) was employed to study the flexural capacity of the sleeper design, calculating the probability of failures. Furthermore, results from an extensive field study of temperature effects on the flexural behavior of rail transit concrete crossties is presented. The temperature study comprised the analysis of the relationship between temperature in the crosstie and the ambient temperature, the effect of curling due to temperature gradient on the flexural performance of concrete crossties, and the potential additional stresses due to nonlinear temperature gradient, shedding additional light on their effect on the design of prestressed monoblock concrete crossties. To complete the railroad superstructure analysis, rail displacements of different fastening system designs and under varied loading scenarios were analyzed and compared. This thesis aimed to provide additional insight into the design of railroad track components for rail transit applications. Current design methodologies used in the rail transit industry do not always lead to accurate, optimal designs. To aid in closing this gap and improving the efficiency of designs, this thesis proposes a probabilistic-based design approach, quantifies the effect of temperature on concrete crosstie flexural behavior, and presents the advantages of using field instrumentation to analyze the behavior of railroad track components.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2020-05-01","The student, Alvaro Canga Ruiz, accepted the attached license on 2018-04-25 at 12:47.","The student, Alvaro Canga Ruiz, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2018-04-25 at 12:55.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2018-04-25 at 14:09.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #12100 on 2018-08-31 at 17:18:00","Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-04T20:33:56Z (GMT). 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Focusing on field characterization of the performance of prestressed monoblock concrete crossties and premium elastic fastening systems, this project aimed to quantify the behavior of the aforementioned track superstructure elements under different rail transit loading conditions. Instrumentation was deployed at three different North American rail transit agencies; on a light rail transit system, on a heavy rail transit system and on a shared corridor with both commuter rail and freight train traffic, targeting specific aspects for each of the track components included in the study. Extensive field monitoring spanned over several months for all the sites and large data sets were developed. Flexural performance results of crossties under light rail loading conditions were compared with projected design capacities obtained from the application of current design standards, and a structural reliability analysis (SRA) was employed to study the flexural capacity of the sleeper design, calculating the probability of failures. Furthermore, results from an extensive field study of temperature effects on the flexural behavior of rail transit concrete crossties is presented. The temperature study comprised the analysis of the relationship between temperature in the crosstie and the ambient temperature, the effect of curling due to temperature gradient on the flexural performance of concrete crossties, and the potential additional stresses due to nonlinear temperature gradient, shedding additional light on their effect on the design of prestressed monoblock concrete crossties. To complete the railroad superstructure analysis, rail displacements of different fastening system designs and under varied loading scenarios were analyzed and compared. This thesis aimed to provide additional insight into the design of railroad track components for rail transit applications. Current design methodologies used in the rail transit industry do not always lead to accurate, optimal designs. To aid in closing this gap and improving the efficiency of designs, this thesis proposes a probabilistic-based design approach, quantifies the effect of temperature on concrete crosstie flexural behavior, and presents the advantages of using field instrumentation to analyze the behavior of railroad track components.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2020-05-01","The student, Alvaro Canga Ruiz, accepted the attached license on 2018-04-25 at 12:47.","The student, Alvaro Canga Ruiz, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2018-04-25 at 12:55.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2018-04-25 at 14:09.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #12100 on 2018-08-31 at 17:18:00","Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-04T20:33:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 CANGARUIZ-THESIS-2018.pdf: 8325534 bytes, checksum: b805718379cc2cfc9da39cac1c93f905 (MD5) Alvaro Canga Ruiz_Thesis_FINAL.docx: 20405005 bytes, checksum: bd3f0a8d403e780c8214cbe6cb547141 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4214 bytes, checksum: 442de5cc285ef397d4703c2ce46eef1c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-25","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 107217 Lift date: 2020-09-04T20:34:13Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 107217 Lift date: 2020-09-04T20:37:00Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 107217 Lift date: 2020-09-04T20:42:08Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","U of I Only Restriction Lifted for Item 107217 on 2020-09-05T09:15:16Z."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101134"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2018 Alvaro Canga Ruiz"],"dc:subject":["concrete crosstie","temperature effect","rail displacements"],"dc:title":["Analysis of the design of railroad track superstructure components for rail transit applications"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Civil Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:38Z"}