{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/30989"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/30989","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Behavior of bolted connections in railroad diamond crossings","abstract":"Maintenance and replacement costs of special track work elements are an expensive problem for the railroad industry. In the railroad industry, special track work refers to special railroad elements, including turnouts, switches, and diamond crossings, that are used where rails join or cross. The repeated impact and dynamic loads that diamond crossings are subjected to result in alignment problems and more rapid deterioration of the special track work elements compared to open track. This research project aims to perform finite element analysis of a diamond crossing frog in order to observe the behavior of diamond crossing bolted connections and to provide suggestions for improving their performance. The ABAQUS environment is used to create and analyze the finite element model. A standard rail joint is modeled with shell elements in order to gain background knowledge on the performance of simple bolted connections in rail. The analysis of one crossing frog in a typical diamond crossing is then performed, again using shell elements. Static, linear elastic analyses were performed using amplified vertical wheel loads to approximate the dynamic effects. The crossing frog model is used to perform a parametric study that evaluates the relative influence of a variety of diamond crossing properties on the behavior of the diamond bolted connections. The results show that the longitudinal rail loads, vertical load position, and foundation stiffness significantly influence the stresses in bolts and connected elements.","abstract_html":"Maintenance and replacement costs of special track work elements are an expensive problem for the railroad industry. In the railroad industry, special track work refers to special railroad elements, including turnouts, switches, and diamond crossings, that are used where rails join or cross. The repeated impact and dynamic loads that diamond crossings are subjected to result in alignment problems and more rapid deterioration of the special track work elements compared to open track. This research project aims to perform finite element analysis of a diamond crossing frog in order to observe the behavior of diamond crossing bolted connections and to provide suggestions for improving their performance. The ABAQUS environment is used to create and analyze the finite element model. A standard rail joint is modeled with shell elements in order to gain background knowledge on the performance of simple bolted connections in rail. The analysis of one crossing frog in a typical diamond crossing is then performed, again using shell elements. Static, linear elastic analyses were performed using amplified vertical wheel loads to approximate the dynamic effects. The crossing frog model is used to perform a parametric study that evaluates the relative influence of a variety of diamond crossing properties on the behavior of the diamond bolted connections. The results show that the longitudinal rail loads, vertical load position, and foundation stiffness significantly influence the stresses in bolts and connected elements.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["White, Martin"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Civil Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Fahnestock, Larry A."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-05-22T00:20:14Z","date_published":"2012-05-22T00:20:14Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:29Z","subjects":["diamond crossing","railroad special trackwork"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2012 Martin White"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/30989","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Fahnestock, Larry A."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["White, Martin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2012-05-22T00:20:14Z","2012-05"]},{"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":["diamond crossing","railroad special trackwork"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2012 Martin White"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/30989"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Maintenance and replacement costs of special track work elements are an expensive problem for the railroad industry. In the railroad industry, special track work refers to special railroad elements, including turnouts, switches, and diamond crossings, that are used where rails join or cross. The repeated impact and dynamic loads that diamond crossings are subjected to result in alignment problems and more rapid deterioration of the special track work elements compared to open track. This research project aims to perform finite element analysis of a diamond crossing frog in order to observe the behavior of diamond crossing bolted connections and to provide suggestions for improving their performance. The ABAQUS environment is used to create and analyze the finite element model. A standard rail joint is modeled with shell elements in order to gain background knowledge on the performance of simple bolted connections in rail. The analysis of one crossing frog in a typical diamond crossing is then performed, again using shell elements. Static, linear elastic analyses were performed using amplified vertical wheel loads to approximate the dynamic effects. The crossing frog model is used to perform a parametric study that evaluates the relative influence of a variety of diamond crossing properties on the behavior of the diamond bolted connections. The results show that the longitudinal rail loads, vertical load position, and foundation stiffness significantly influence the stresses in bolts and connected elements.","Item withdrawn by Alexis Thompson (athmpsn1@illinois.edu) on 2012-04-25T20:47:13Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 1 White_Martin.pdf: 3632790 bytes, checksum: 3be691f648dc58fb985c49aff87fa3c1 (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2012-05-22T00:20:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 White_Martin.pdf: 3661656 bytes, checksum: 53e7d84b97b579aeb98c33ffcbdc3633 (MD5) license.txt: 4062 bytes, checksum: 77ae6ea25e5e50a4c1010e250a533d23 (MD5)"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Behavior of bolted connections in railroad diamond crossings"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Fahnestock, Larry A."],"dc:creator":["White, Martin"],"dc:date":["2012-05-22T00:20:14Z","2012-05"],"dc:description":["Maintenance and replacement costs of special track work elements are an expensive problem for the railroad industry. In the railroad industry, special track work refers to special railroad elements, including turnouts, switches, and diamond crossings, that are used where rails join or cross. The repeated impact and dynamic loads that diamond crossings are subjected to result in alignment problems and more rapid deterioration of the special track work elements compared to open track. This research project aims to perform finite element analysis of a diamond crossing frog in order to observe the behavior of diamond crossing bolted connections and to provide suggestions for improving their performance. The ABAQUS environment is used to create and analyze the finite element model. A standard rail joint is modeled with shell elements in order to gain background knowledge on the performance of simple bolted connections in rail. The analysis of one crossing frog in a typical diamond crossing is then performed, again using shell elements. Static, linear elastic analyses were performed using amplified vertical wheel loads to approximate the dynamic effects. The crossing frog model is used to perform a parametric study that evaluates the relative influence of a variety of diamond crossing properties on the behavior of the diamond bolted connections. The results show that the longitudinal rail loads, vertical load position, and foundation stiffness significantly influence the stresses in bolts and connected elements.","Item withdrawn by Alexis Thompson (athmpsn1@illinois.edu) on 2012-04-25T20:47:13Z Item was in collections: University of Illinois Theses & Dissertations (ID: 1) No. of bitstreams: 1 White_Martin.pdf: 3632790 bytes, checksum: 3be691f648dc58fb985c49aff87fa3c1 (MD5)","Made available in DSpace on 2012-05-22T00:20:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 White_Martin.pdf: 3661656 bytes, checksum: 53e7d84b97b579aeb98c33ffcbdc3633 (MD5) license.txt: 4062 bytes, checksum: 77ae6ea25e5e50a4c1010e250a533d23 (MD5)"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/30989"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2012 Martin White"],"dc:subject":["diamond crossing","railroad special trackwork"],"dc:title":["Behavior of bolted connections in railroad diamond crossings"],"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":"2026-07-22T22:25:29Z"}