| NuRail Project ID | NURail2012-UIC-R02 |
| Project Title | Rail Infrastructure Materials for High Speed Rail |
| University | UIC |
| Principal Investigator | Issa |
| PI Contact Information | Phone: 213) 996-3432 Email: missa@uic.edu |
| Funding Source(s) and Amounts Provided (by each agency or organization) | $132,152 UIC in-kind; $132,152 USDOT RITA |
| Total Project Cost | $264,304 |
| Agency ID or Contract Number | DTRT12-G-UTC18 |
| Start Date | 5/1/2012 |
| End Date | 1/31/2014 |
| Brief Description of Research Project | Understanding the behavior of the railroad track is crucial for design purposes. The use of recycled plastic material for rail ties has many advantages such as reducing environmental impact, reducing the cost by having higher life expectancy which is approximately fifty years, and higher fatigue limits allowing high elasticity. Analyzing and examining rail-elevated structures that include different types of slabs is also part of our strategy in this project. The results will be used to validate computational finite element approaches that can be used to model more general and complex High Speed Rail (HSR) systems. The railroad track is one of the key factors, because cyclic as well as the residual strains are developed in the foundation of a railway track system due to the application of cyclic load. The latter are the strains that remain at the end of each cycle of load and they represent a cumulative effect that must be added to the effect of previous strains. The overall objective of the proposed project is to carry out experimental and numerical analysis on plastic lumber used in high speed rail tracks and to investigate the use of precast concrete in high speed rail infrastructures. The project will be specifically divided into six main objectives: (1) Identify the mechanical properties of the plastic lumber used as rail ties in a high speed rail track. (2) Fabrication of plastic lumber ties with and without fiber reinforced polymer bars. (3) Experimental testing of the plastic lumber ties subjected to static loading. (4) Experimental testing of the plastic lumber ties subjected to cyclic loading of at least 2 million cycles. (5) Investigate the use of full depth precast concrete panels for slab bridges. (6) Investigate the type of elevated structures using totally prefabricated precast concrete bridge systems. |
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| Web Links | Click HERE |
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| Project Website |