Damage of prestressed concrete railway sleepers and its impact on durability

Abstract

Prestressed concrete railway sleepers are the most widespread sleepers due to their stiffness and high bearing capacity. They transfer train induced loads from the rails directly to the ballast and therefore are the most important part of the railway structure. As railway traffic is constantly increasing with increasing loads and additional environmental effects take place it is necessary to ensure safety of the railway. Therefore, the present study focuses on durability of prestressed concrete railway sleepers. This paper examines new sleepers and sleepers damaged during exploitation. As all sleepers were manufactured at the same time the comparison of cracking loads and bearing capacity are provided. Additionaly, a difference between chemical composition of concrete samples from new and exploited sleepers is briefly discussed. Further, possible causes of damages of exploited sleepers are analyzed.