WO2014045069A1

WO2014045069A1 - Railway track structure from prefabricated units and construction procedure

Info

Publication number: WO2014045069A1
Application number: PCT/HU2012/000108
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zoltán MÉSZÁRICS
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2012-09-21
Filing date: 2012-10-19
Publication date: 2014-03-27
Anticipated expiration: 2015-03-21
Also published as: HU230288B1; EP2917409A1; HUP1200549A2

Description

Railway track structure from prefabricated units and construction procedure

The subject of the patent is: railway track structure from prefabricated units, fitted with multi-layered rubble absorbing vibrations generated by passing trains, and procedure for the construction of the track structure. The spread of rail based vehicles and the increasing speed of such vehicles necessitates even higher requirements concerning railway track structures. Earlier, simple rails mounted onto sleepers fitted and picked into rubble sufficed to support trains running on the rails and to keep track-gauge. Today, we need more advanced track structures that can face extreme weather conditions and can be deployed on loose, hard, or stony ground. For the purposes of evaluating the state of the art, one need to take into consideration - among the numerous known solutions - track structures consisting of multiple layers or applying some kind of vibration absorbing material.

At first, Hungarian patent No. P9700898 should be presented, probably. The invented track structure consists of one or multi-layered carrier layers mounted onto a base structure and sleepers placed onto the carrier layer, where at least some of the sleepers is fixed by fixing units anchored in the carrier layer. The solution according to our invention is more advanced, as the entire sleeper is embedded into the supporting layer.

Hungarian patent description No. 205 402 presents a loose and gravelly structure for rail based vehicles, and a procedure for the construction of the structure. The essence of the description is that a noise damper layer - consisting of multiple parts - is placed on both sides of the rail spine reaching up to the head of the rail, sticking to the rail, and completely covering the rail bottom and the rail spine. The solution is completely different from the construction of the railway structure according to our invention, as it covers the head of the rail and the rail bottom themselves with 2-8 mm sized particles of various materials connected to each other with adhesive material.

Patent description No. US2010258647 describes a means of adjustable rail damping. According to this description, the damper consists of damping units fixed to both sides of the rail with magnets between the head and the bottom of the rail, and adjustment can be executed by tightening the dampers. In comparison to the numerous previous solutions, this is a new, adjustable rail damper solution. Patent description No. US 5,060,856 focuses on the damper mattress. It consists of a multi- layered damper railway track bedding made of elastic materials and designed in a mattresslike manner. It is suitable for supporting rails for low speed downtown vehicles only, as it gives an oscillating quality to the movement of the passing vehicles. Canadian patent description No. CA 1,125,718 describes a multi-layered railway track structure fitted with a multi-layered, tilted, laying V shaped polyurethane insulating layer close to the base in order to dampen the vibrations generated by trains. These layers are too soft to provide sufficiently stiff support for the wheels of high-speed trains, but implement the vibration absorbing soft bedding only. They are not capable of implementing the two contradictory requirements - i.e. the sufficiently stiff support and vibration absorbing soft bedding - at the same time.

The purpose of our invention is to retain the high laying quality of track geometry, to provide advantageous running dynamic comfort for vehicles, to ensure reasonably long and high quality operational expectancy, and permanently low maintenance costs during operation. The invention also aims to provide sufficiently stiff support for the rolling wheels of passing high-speed vehicles - generating high dynamic load -, while sufficiently absorbing vibration within the 5 to 50 Hz frequency range and keeping the extent of rail impression under passing trains below 2 mm.

We have recognised that we can reach our purpose, if we can provide sufficiently stiff support by using mutually straining prefabricated reinforced concrete panels, and if we can ensure that vibrations caused by oscillations of various frequencies are effectively absorbed by filling the panels with rubbles of different granulation.

The special implementation of the mutually straining panels according to our invention can be reached if two kinds of panels - a wedge panel producing wedging effect and a supporting panel producing supporting effect - are produced. These are built into the railway track by turns, so that sufficiently stiff support is achieved by the wedge panels straining against the support panels under load. We have recognised that the design of the panels in the railway track structure stiffens the support so that the design of the wedging panel and the support panel prevents the movement of granules in the rubble layer filled into the wedging panel and the support panel, and in the rubble layer above them, to various extents. This implementation causes gradual changes to the behaviour of the rubble layers, ranging from the completely stiff layer to the supporting layer providing flexibility.

The invention is a railway track structure from prefabricated units, fitted with multi- layered rubble absorbing vibrations of the rail track generated by passing trains. The most general implementation of the invention consists of the features of Claim 1. Claims 2 to 10 describe the advantageous implementation forms of the railway track structure. The most general procedure for construction the track structure according to the invention is described in Claim 1 1. Claims 12 and 13 describe the advantageous implementation forms of the procedure. The railway track structure and the procedure for the construction of the railway track structure are described in detail on drawings, where

Figure 1 shows the axonometric view of the railway track structure, showing the various construction phases moving from left to the right;

Figure 2 shows the section drawing - perpendicular to the track, seen from the centre line of the wedge panel - of the railway track structure filled with rubble layers;

Figure 3 shows the section drawing - perpendicular to the track, seen from the centre line of the supporting panel - of the railway track structure filled with rubble layers;

Figure 4 shows the section drawing - perpendicular to the track and in the centre line of the wedge panel - of the railway track structure without showing the rubble layers, but indicating the locations thereof;

Figure 5 shows the section drawing - perpendicular to the track and in the centre line of the supporting panel - of the railway track structure without showing the rubble layers, but indicating the locations thereof;

Figure 6 shows the axial section of the railway track structure along the centre line of the track, where there is a gap between the neighbouring braces 7 and 1 1, and the wedge panel and the supporting pane have no contact in this section;

Figure 7 shows the axial section of the railway track structure seen in the line of the supporting mould of the wedge panel and of the supporting mould of the supporting panel, and where there is an adhesive pad between the edges of the supporting moulds 8 and 1 1 ; Figure 8 shows the axonometric view of the corner of the wedge panel, where the edge of supporting mould 8 is tilted and an adhesive pad is fixed thereto;

Figure 9 shows the axonometric view of the railway track structure, when the supporting panels are composed of two half supporting panels, and an additional adhesive pad is placed between the half supporting panels, which are the mirror images of each other;

Figure 10 shows the axial section of the railway track structure shown on Figure 9 along the centre line of the track, where - similarly to Figure 6 - the neighbouring wedge panels and supporting panels have no contact;

Figure 11 shows the axial section of the railway track structure shown on Figure 9 seen from the line of the supporting mould of the wedge panels and of the supporting mould of the supporting panels, where adhesive pads are placed between the neighbouring edges of the supporting moulds.

Figure 1 shows the structure of the entire railway track structure according to the invention, showing the various construction phases moving from right to the left, consisting of the wedge panels 6 and supporting panels 9 placed next to each other. It is apparent, that the railway track structure has coffered wedge panels 6 and supporting panels placed close to each other longitudinally along the railway track and put next to each other like dovetail joints. While constructing the track structure, care must be taken to ensure that the wedge panels 6 and the supporting panels 9 are placed closely next to each other in turns. While fitting a wedge panel 6, the fitting is correct if the own weight of the wedge panel 6 somewhat presses the wedge panel 6 between the supporting panels 9. The wedge panels 6 and the supporting panels 9 are designed so that they lie on each other on the protruding edge surfaces of the neighbouring supporting moulds 8 and 1 1 with or without any adhesive pad. There is also a gap between the braces 7 and 10 of the wedge panels 6 and the supporting panels 9, so the side surfaces of the braces 7 and 10 are preferably also tilted, but the side of brace 7 of a wedge panel 6 deviates from the vertical by +a angle, the side of the brace 10 of the other supporting panel 9 deviates from the vertical by -a angle. The coffered wedge panel 6 - which is closed at the bottom - is supported by supporting moulds 8 on two sides, which are preferably held together horizontally by braces 7 perpendicular to the track. Similarly, the supporting panel 9 - which is closed at the bottom - is also supported by supporting moulds 11, which are preferably held together horizontally by braces 10 perpendicular to the track. An important difference - among others - between the two is that the tilted edge of the supporting mould 8 of the wedge panel 6 creates a wedge panel 6, which narrows from top to the bottom, while the tilted edge of the supporting mould 11 of the neighbouring supporting panel 9 creates a wedge panel, which becomes broader from top to the bottom. This is clearly shown on Figures 6 and 7. The tilted edge surfaces deviate from vertical by 2 to 15 degrees, preferably by 8 to 10 degrees. Crossways to the track, the difference between the two panels is that the braces 7 of the wedge panel 6 are higher and narrower than the braces 10 of the supporting panel 9 by 20 to 50 percent. The supporting mould 8 of the wedge panel 6 is practically of the same height than the supporting mould 1 1 of supporting panel 9, which is apparent not only on Figures 6 and 7. Figures 2 to 5 showing cross-sections of the panels in the centre line perpendicular to the track show significant similarities and the material differences are indicated by the broken lines only. See Figures 2 and 3 filled with rubble, or Figures 4 and 5 without rubble.

It can be seen on Figure 1 and Figure 7, that an adhesive pad 12 is placed between the tilted neighbouring edge surfaces of supporting mould 8 and supporting mould 1 1. This plays an important role according to the invention in facilitating the sliding of the pressed edges of the prefabricated reinforced concrete panels and in preventing the milling of the concrete edges. Usually, the adhesive pad 12 is a plastic stripe made of 5 to 15 mm thick polyamid with fiberglass reinforcement. The desired effect can be reached by other means as well, for example by increasing the smoothness or hardness of the contacting concrete surfaces, by applying a covering layer, or by impregnation. Preferably, the adhesive pad 12 should be placed on both edge surfaces of the supporting mould 8 of the wedge panel 6 in advance, already during fabrication. See also Figure 8.

The supporting panels 9 lie on the bedding layer 14 on a larger surface, than the wedge panels 6. The difference between the lying surface of the wedge panel 6 and the supporting panel 9 must be designed so that the surface of the supporting panel 9 always exceeds the surface of the wedge panel 6 by 5 to 10 percent. This way, higher tension is generated on a smaller surface under the wedge panel 6, providing softer bedding than the bedding the wedge effect is capable of generating. According to the invention, the larger lying surface of the supporting panel 9 can also be implemented, if the overlapping underplate 18 of the supporting panel 9 is longer than the overlapping underplate 16 of the wedge panel 6 by 10 to 20 percent. See Figure 1 and Figures 4 to 5. The overlapping underplates 18 and 16 made of reinforced concrete moulded together with and forming integral parts of the wedge panels 6 and the supporting panels 9.

It is possible that the number of wedge panels 6 may be reduced for technical reasons on the designate track section. In such cases, the track structure according to Figure 9 may be constructed. In this case, the supporting panels 9 are composed of two half supporting panels 9a and 9b, which are the mirror images of each other. An adhesive pad 12 is placed between the half supporting panel 9a and the half supporting panel 9b, which can even be pre-tensed prior to installation by pressing the half supporting panels 9a and 9b together. Similarly to Figures 6 and 7, Figures 10 and 1 1 show the axial section of the railway track structure shown on Figure 9 in the centre line of the track, and seen from the line of the supporting moulds 8 and 11.

So far, we have covered in detail that a sufficiently stiffened railway track structure can be created by using the wedge panels 6 squeezed between the supporting panels 9. However, the track structure according to our invention is well capable of absorbing harmful oscillations within the 5 to 50 Hz frequency range caused by vibration. We have already mentioned the flexible bedding layer 14, which interrupts the path of water filtering upward from the underlying soil 15 in a capillary manner. This can be implemented by using a mixture of rubble and milled waste glass, or another known elastic frost resistant material. The recommended layer width is 10 to 15 cm, and the recommended granulation is 15 to 25 mm. The flexible bedding layer is to be placed on the underlying soil 15 with technical fabric in between. Subsequently, the wedge panels 6 and the supporting panels 9 are placed on this bedding layer 14 in the already known manner.

The rubble layers are implemented as follows: The wedge panels 6 and the supporting panels 9 placed on the flexible bedding layer 14 are filled up to the half of the higher braces 7 of the wedge panel 6 with larger, preferable 120 to 150 mm sized rubble, which forms the lower rubble layer 5. The larger gap space in the approximately 15 cm thick lower rubble layer 5 and the rainwater disposal opening 13 on the lower edge of the panels facilitates the prompt and efficient drainage. Subsequently, the wedge panels 6 and the supporting panels 9 are filled with smaller, 31.5 to 63 mm sized rubble up to the top of the brace 7 of the wedge panel, thereby creating the middle rubble layer 4. The coffer effect created in the lower rubble layer 5 and the middle rubble layer 4 surrounded on all four sides by the supporting moulds 8 of the wedge panels 6, the supporting moulds 11 of the supporting panels 9, and the braces 7 and 10 is complete, free of any displacement, and ensures friction of rest among the rock particles in these layers. The expected frequency damping is 32 Hz and below. On top of the middle rubble layer 4, the wedge panels 6 and the supporting panels 9 are filled with a rubble layer up to the upper edge of the supporting moulds 8 and 11 - which are of the same height -, thereby creating the upper rubble layer

3. The characteristics of the upper rubble layer 3 are different from those of the other layers, as the movement of the rock particles is limited only from two directions - from the supporting moulds 8 and 11 -, theoretically leaving space for longitudinal movement, which is nevertheless dampened by the underlying middle rubble layer 4. The granulation of the upper rubble layer 3 is commonly identical with the granulation of the middle rubble layer 4 - between 31.5 and 63 mm - in order to make the filling simpler and cheaper. However, this does not interfere with the different behaviour of the two rubble layers 3 and

4. The expected frequency damping is below 10 Hz. Furthermore, the railway track 1 is provided with direct and flexible support by the layers 3, 4, and 5, and the reinforced concrete wedge panels 6 and supporting panels 9 are covered by the external rubble layer 2 and the roadside 17. There is no sideway support in the external rubble layer 2, so the rock particles are allowed to move. In the course of this, we create railway track 1 - including the sleepers holding the rails - in the external rubble layer, and railway bed.

The granular rubble layers 2, 3, 4, and 5 - supported by the wedge panels 6 and supporting panels 9 tensed against each other due to the wedge effect - and the railway track 1 serve as a homogenous counterweight against the vibrating effect generated by the railway load rolling by. The significant increase in the weight of the track already dampens the vibration generated by the trains at the very source, where the wheels meet the rail. The expected frequency damping is above 9 Hz In conclusion, it can be established that the frictional vibration damping in wide frequency ranges is solved by applying the granular rubble layers 2, 3, 4, and 5 placed below each other. The reinforced concrete wedge panels 6 and the supporting panels 9 ensure permanent supporting effect in the granular rubble layers, so the created sets retain their state in space and time for a long period. The rubble layers 2, 3, 4, and 5 - of various rigidity - retain their different frictional, friction at ease, and solidity characteristics during the existence of the track structure.

The railway track structure according to the invention has the benefit that the track structure strengthens and stiffens itself under duress: A railway track structure constructed this way continuously ensures the permanent retention of the high quality track geometry. It provides the vehicles with advantageous running dynamic comfort. It has low maintenance costs during operation. It operational expectancy is long. It unifies the advantages of rubble and rigid plate based track stabilisation, while retaining the best features ("rail floating in bedding") for vibration purposes. Furthermore, the structural design allows for the re-use of high quality industrial plastic and glass waste.

Claims

1. Railway track structure from prefabricated units, fitted with multi-layered rubble absorbing vibrations of the railway track generated by passing trains, characterized in that it has coffered wedge panels (6) and supporting panels (9) placed next to each other in turns longitudinally along the railway track and which are dovetail joint shaped and so put together.

2. The track structure according to claim 1, characterized in that the coffered wedge panels (6), which are closed at the bottom, are supported by supporting moulds (8) on the two sides, which are held together horizontally by braces (7), and similarly, the supporting panels (9), which are closed at the bottom too, are also supported by supporting moulds

(1 1) , which are preferably held together horizontally by braces (10), and an adhesive pad

(12) is placed between the tilted neighbouring edge surfaces of the supporting moulds (8) of the wedge panels (6) and the supporting moulds (1 1) of the supporting panels (9).

3. Any of the track structures according to claims 1 to 2, characterized in that the neighbouring tilted edge surfaces of the supporting mould (8) of the wedge panels (6) and of the supporting mould (1 1) of the supporting panels (9) deviate from vertical by 4 to 15 degrees (a), preferably by 8 to 10 degrees, and the wedge panels (6) and the supporting panels (9) designed this way are built into the railway track in turns.

4. Any of the track structures according to claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the braces (7) of the wedge panel (6) are higher and thinner than the braces (1 1) of the supporting panel (9) by 20 to 40 percent.

5. Any of the track structures according to claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the overlapping underplate (18) of the supporting panel (9) is longer than the overlapping underplate (16) of the wedge panel (6) by 10 to 20 percent.

6. Any of the track structures according to claims 1 to 5, characterized in that there is a flexible bedding layer (14) of rubble and milled glass under the fitted wedge panels (6) and supporting panels (9).

7. Any of the track structures according to claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the wedge panels (6) and the supporting panels (9) placed on the flexible bedding layer (14) and supported from all four sides, are filled up to the height of the brace (7) of the wedge panel (6) with rubble layers (4, 5) of different granulation, where the lower rubble layer (5) is of larger - preferably between 120 to 150 mm - granulation, while the above middle rubble layer (4) is of smaller - preferably between 31.5 to 63 mm - granulation.

8. Any of the track structures according to claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the installed wedge panels (6) and supporting panels (9) filled with two rubble layers (4, 5) up to the height of the brace (7) are filled with a third external rubble layer (3) - supported from two sides by the supporting moulds (8) of the wedge panel (6) and by the supporting moulds (1 1) of the supporting panel (9) - above the height of the brace (7), the granulation of which - preferably between 31.5 to 63 mm - is identical to that of the middle rubble layer (4).

9. Any of the track structures according to claims 1 to 8, characterized in that a railway bed consisting of an external rubble layer (2) of known granulation is established above the already filled wedge panels (6) and supporting panels (9), preferably covering them from all directions, free from all sides, and including the sleepers holding the rails.

10. Any of the track structures according to claims 1 to 9, characterized in that a supporting panel (9) is built from half a supporting panel (9a) and another half of a supporting panel (9b), which resemble a mirror image of one another, among which an adhesive pad (12) is preferably inserted, and the total length of the half supporting panel (9a) and the other half supporting panel (9b) is more than double of the length of a simple supporting panel (9).

1 1. Procedure for the construction of the track structure according to claim 1, characterized in that - following the previously designated route - a flexible bedding layer (14) consisting of rubble and milled glass is established on the previously dug and prepared underlying soil (15) with a thickness corresponding to the characteristics of the underlying soil (15), then the coffered and dovetail joint shaped prefabricated wedge panels (6) and supporting panels (9) are placed thereon in a row in turns closely next to each other, so that each supporting panel (9) is followed by a wedge panel (6), which in turn is followed by another supporting panel (9), taking care that the wedge panel (6) is somewhat squeezed between the supporting panels (9) by its own weight, then the wedge panels (6) and supporting panels (9) are filled with rubble of various granulation, and then the bedding prepared this way is covered by an external rubble layer (2) of known granulation, and a railway track (1) including the sleepers holding the rails and a railway bed is constructed.

12. The procedure according to claim 11, characterized in that an adhesive pad (12) is placed between the tilted neighbouring edge surfaces of the supporting moulds (1 1) of the supporting panels (9) and the supporting moulds (8) of the wedge panels (6), preferably so that an adhesive pad (12) is fixed to both side edges of the supporting mould (8) of the wedge panels (6) before installation, and the wedge panels (6) fitted this way are placed between the supporting panels (9).

13. Any of the procedures according to claims 11 to 12, characterized in that the inside of the wedge panels (6) and the supporting panels (9) is filled at first up to the half of the braces (7) with larger - preferably of 120 to 150 mm granulation - rubble layer, thereby creating a lower rubble layer (5), and then creating a middle and an upper rubble layer (4, 3) of smaller - preferably between 31.5 and 63 mm - granulation up to the height of the supporting mould (8) of the wedge panels (6) and of the supporting mould (1 1) of the supporting panels (9), and then by mounting an external rubble layer (2) of granulation known per se above the wedge panels (6) and supporting panels (9), and by building a railway track the known way (2) consisting of rails and sleepers on the railway bed constructed this way.