Effect of Extreme Climate On Topology of Railway

Effect of Extreme Climate
on Topology of Railway
Prestressed Concrete
Sleepers
Dan Li and Sakdirat Kaewunruen
INTRODUCTION
• Climate uncertainty has become a significant issue around the world and is a social,
economic, and political problem. The reasons for climate change could be derived from
human activity, biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by the Earth, and
volcanic eruptions. “Extreme climate” is defined as unusual, unexpected, or unpredicted
severe weather, based on historical records of the 10% of most unusual cases. Extreme
weather may lead to pavement deterioration, rail buckling, and ground settlement, as well
as increasing frequency of accidents, and so on.
• Prestressed concrete is the most commonly used material in railway sleepers around the
world because of its good structural performance and low maintenance cost. Prestressed
concrete sleepers are often applied in harsh environments, but often excessive loads are
applied that can induce damage. Therefore, railway engineers need to improve the
performance of prestressed concrete sleepers, especially to improve functionality under
extreme weather. The time-dependent behaviour of prestressed concrete sleepers largely
depends on environmental factors
• Like any other structural concrete product, prestressed concrete sleepers can
be affected by changes in various factors over time. The failures of prestressed
concrete sleepers are more likely due to cumulative damage rather than to any
one single extreme event.
• Climatic effects on prestressed concrete sleepers are very important. Changing
environmental factors will significantly influence the performance of prestressed
concrete sleepers.
• In this study, open literature have been comprehensively reviewed for
investigating the topology of prestressed concrete sleepers, and experimental
data was obtained from previous research in order to study the climatic
changes that influence the performance of prestressed concrete sleepers.
Material prediction models are used to identify influential effects and are
essential for structural geometric analysis.
OBJECTIVE
• TO ADDRESS THE TIME-DEPENDENT BEHAVIOR OF

RAILWAY PRESTRESSED CONCRETE SLEEPERS UNDER
EXTREME CLIMATIC CONDITIONS
METHODOLOGY
• Durability can be defined as the capability of a structure to resist various damages such as
deterioration, cracks, corrosion, and other afflictions over its lifetime. Throughout the lifetime of
railway infrastructures, all components will experience various environments, and the effects of
extreme climate could pose a series of problems to the durability of prestressed concrete
sleepers. In an extremely cold climate, cracks could occur in sleepers as the volume of water in
the concrete’s pores expands when it freezes. The flexural strength of concrete will decrease
under the extreme temperature. In addition, an extremely warm climate could increase a
chemical attack on prestressed concrete. For example, the concentration of CO2 will increase in a
warm climate, which increases the possibility of carbonation on concrete sleepers. It is thus
necessary to account for durability that fulfils the performance requirements demanded during a
sleeper’s service life.
• The serviceability limit state is a limit state in which concrete sleepers are beginning
to impose some tolerances on the operational capacity of the track, such as
deformations, vertical displacement, rail cant dynamics, etc. The time-dependent
behaviour of concrete has been investigated for more than a century. Besides elastic
shortening, the gradual in-time development of deformations is due to creep,
shrinkage, and thermal strains. In the long term, the deformation of prestressed
concrete sleepers will lead to losses of prestress, which reduces performance and
serviceability. Creep strain is a strain that increases with time under constant stress.
Shrinkage is not relevant to stress and results primarily from several factors such as
loss of water, chemical reactions, capillary tension, and so on. With increasing
temperatures, relative humidity will reduce, which significantly influences creep and
shrinkage. Creep and shrinkage can cause undue axial deformation, excessive pre-
camber, and loss of prestress. Excessive deflection and excessive shortening are often
caused by creep and shrinkage.
Creep Prediction
• Neville stated that the concrete under loads at which strain increases over time
are due to creep. Therefore, creep can be defined as the increase in strain under a
sustained stress, which can be several times larger than the initial strain. Creep is a
considerable factor in a concrete structure. Bhatt stated that the deformation of
concrete is different from other materials like steel. When a load is applied to steel, the
deformation will not change with time if the load is constant.
where RH is relative humidity in percentage; Ac is the cross-sectional
area; u is the perimeter of the member in contact with the atmosphere;
and S, R, and N refer to different classes of cement
Shrinkage Prediction
Bhatt stated that both creep and shrinkage are influenced by the same material parameters. Shrinkage
is not an entirely reversible process like creep and can also be also influenced by relative humidity,
surface exposure to the atmosphere, compressive strength of concrete, and type of cement. Shrinkage
usually can be divided into four components, including plastic shrinkage, drying shrinkage, chemical
shrinkage, and thermal shrinkage. Plastic shrinkage occurs in wet concrete before setting, and high-
strength concrete is prone to plastic shrinkage in which significant cracking may occur before and
during the setting process. Drying shrinkage is caused by loss of water during the drying process,
which results in a reduction in volume. Various chemical reactions with the cement paste lead to
chemical shrinkage. Thermal shrinkage is the contraction that results in the first few hours (or days)
after setting, as the heat of hydration gradually dissipates. In theoretical prediction, the total shrinkage
strain can be calculated by combining drying shrinkage and autogenous shrinkage. The total shrinkage
strain εcs can be given by Eurocode 2:
Results for the Effects of Climate
• Previous research conducted by Solatiyan et al. simulated a freeze-thaw situation. The
research indicated that freeze-thaw cycles influence concrete properties significantly.
In their experiment, C35 was used for concrete pavement. The initial compressive
strength of concrete was 36.1 MPa with 7.5% air content. The concrete used in
Solatiyan’s experiment had relatively high air entrapment. Plain concrete tends to have
less freeze-thaw resistance in comparison with air-entraining concrete. The fast freeze-
thaw cycle experiment conducted by Shang et al. also tested C40- and C50-strength
concrete through 400 cycles.
Results for Extreme Humidity Impact
• The performance of prestressed concrete sleepers is also influenced by temperature
and relative humidity. Drying shrinkage is affected by certain factors that influence
concrete dryings, such as water content, the water-cement ratio, and relative
humidity. Shrinkage will increase when the temperature rises, accelerating drying.
Creep also depends on drying factors and is greater when relative humidity
decreases. According to Li et al., relative humidity is a key parameter in estimating
time-dependent behavior. An Australian-manufactured prestressed concrete sleeper
was used for investigation. The sleeper was 2700 mm long with concrete strength of
55 MPa and a 1600 mm track gauge. Both the creep and shrinkage were significantly
influenced by relative humidity.
Discussion of the Effects of Climate Uncertainty
• High temperatures increase the deformability of cement paste and accelerate concrete
drying, thus influencing the time-dependent behaviour of prestressed concrete. Rusch et
al. stated that time-dependent behaviour is more significant at elevated temperatures,
and is far less significant between temperatures 0 and 20 ◦C. For example, creep at the
mean temperature 40 ◦C could be 25% higher than at 20 ◦C.
• According to Zhu et al., the prediction model relating relative humidity and
temperature was converted from the Goff–Gratch vapour pressure formula (shown in
Equations (7) and (8)). Relative humidity can be calculated using observed vapour
pressure (e), saturation vapour pressure (es), and temperature (T). This formula is
valid from −45 to 60 ◦C. The relationship between temperature and the time-
dependent behaviour of prestressed concrete sleepers can be predicted by inputting
the Goff–Gratch vapour pressure formula into prediction codes. By using prediction
models, material behaviour can be attained for further structural analysis. The
principle of solid mechanics has been used to demonstrate the time-dependent
behaviour of the safety-critical structural component, railway prestressed concrete
sleepers
Conclusions
• Prestressed concrete sleepers have gained a reputation for their satisfactory
structural performance and their associated benefits. The service life of railway
prestressed concrete sleepers is usually designed for 50 years, but it can vary
largely depending on time-dependent behavior. Railway concrete sleepers
always experience aggressive environments, including impact load, abrasion,
chemical attack, and so on. Many railway sleepers cannot meet the design
requirements because of aggressive environments. Material degradation over
time leads to premature failure before reaching the design service life.
However, our critical review revealed that extreme climate will accelerate the
accumulation of damage. The time-dependent behavior results in material
degradation, deflection, deformation, change of rail gauge, and other
problems. The effects of environmental factors on concrete properties are very
significant, which influence service life and raise the risk potential.
• This paper presents some critical considerations on the effect of extreme climates on the
topology or influential geometrical changes of railway prestressed concrete sleepers. In
order to evaluate the effect of extreme climate on the topology of railway sleepers, the
impact factors need to be found relevant to time-dependent behaviour. In this study, the
climate data was derived from the IPCC and different countries’ authorities, together with
previously published studies related to the time-dependent behaviour of concrete.
• Material prediction models in accordance with Eurocode 2 were employed to determine
the material parameters that are essential for analytical calculations of the time-dependent
behaviour of prestressed concrete sleepers. The outcome of this research provides a new
insight into prestressed concrete sleepers used in aggressive environments. It enables
decision making towards serviceability design requirements for railway concrete. This study
also provides an innovative solution and new knowledge that could lead to improvement in
the durability of concrete, such as concrete mixes for extreme climate or new material that
could be applied in concrete sleepers to resist extreme climatic conditions.
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• TO ADDRESS THE TIME-DEPENDENT BEHAVIOR OF

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