Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Performance studies on two types of prestressed concrete railway

sleepers using finite element model
Bhukya Vamsi Naik a, Yugal Kishor a, Suman Saha b, Sharan Kumar Goudar a,⇑
a
Department of Civil engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kozhikode, 673601, Kerala, India
b
Department of Civil engineering, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, West Bengal 713209, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Prestressed concrete sleepers [PCS] are widely used in ballasted railway tracks across the world. Sleepers
Available online xxxx distribute the load coming from the rails to the ballast. PCS have advantages like high durability, stability,
and strength compared to other types of sleepers. Concrete sleepers in their life span may undergo
Keywords: utmost loading conditions due to high-speed rails, high-magnitude wheel loads, and rail irregularities.
Prestressed concrete sleepers Cracks in sleepers may occur at the rail seat region and mid-span region because of the high positive
FE Modelling bending moment and high negative bending moment, respectively. PCS may satisfy the excepted perfor-
Modal analysis
mance standards during short-term serviceability, but long-term durability and premature failures are
Stress distribution
Load–deflection response
still an issue. Hence, selecting a suitable sleeper that performs better during harsh loading conditions
becomes crucial. In the present study, two kinds of railway sleepers, namely, Indian sleeper
(RT2496/60 kg) and Chinese type III prestressed concrete sleeper [CT III PCS], are considered to assess
the performance under harsh loading conditions which arise due to modern high-speed or semi-high-
speed rails on ballasted tracks. The finite element models of two kinds of sleepers were done using
ANSYS, and the performance of the sleepers was assessed. The numerical results show that the CT III
PCS performed slightly better than the Indian sleeper that has been studied in the present investigation.
Ó 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Confer-
ence on Advances in Construction Materials and Structures.

1. Introduction
In railways structure, sleepers are the main component of bal-
lasted railway tracks that distributes the train axle loads to the bal-
last and subgrade and holds the rails transversely to maintain the
proper gauge width [1]. Rail operations have grown widely and
become more demanding. The sleepers are made of conventional
concrete and are no longer useable before they reach their antici-
pated service life of 40 to 50 years. The most common railroad slee-
per is the prestressed concrete sleeper [2]. Initially, only static
loads were considered when the sleepers were developed, as the
train speeds and train axle loads were minimal; at that time, it
was not a significant issue. But with today’s high running speed
and axle loads, it is required to consider the dynamic loads while
designing [3 4]. Over the past 20 years, after recognizing that
dynamic loads causes server damage to rails, the use of numerical
analysis has been increased to solve the problems of railway slee-
per damages [5 6].
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sharan@nitc.ac.in (S.K. Goudar).
The main aim of this paper is to assess the performance of two
sleepers, i.e. Indian sleepers and Chinese type III prestressed con-
crete sleepers [CT III PCS], for practical applications with respect
to semi-high-speed rails. The numerical result of both the sleepers
obtained from the ANSYS software were compared. The load–de-
flection response obtained from the numerical analysis has been
compared with the load–deflection response obtained from the
experimental tests. The stress that are generated at different loca-
tions in the sleepers and the modal response of both the sleepers
were also compared to assess the performance under semi-high
speed rails loading condition.
2. Numerical model
2.1. Geometry of the sleeper
Indian sleeper and CT III PCS are considered for studying the
performance of the sleepers. Both the sleepers section details are
exhibited in Fig. 1 & Fig. 2.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2023.03.147
2214-7853/Ó 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Advances in Construction Materials and Structures.

Please cite this article as: B.V. Naik, Y. Kishor, S. Saha et al., Performance studies on two types of prestressed concrete railway sleepers using finite element
model, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2023.03.147
B.V. Naik, Y. Kishor, S. Saha et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 1. Geometric details of Indian sleeper [7].

Fig. 2. Geometric details of the CT III PCS [8].

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B.V. Naik, Y. Kishor, S. Saha et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 1
Materials Properties of Sleepers.

Properties Indian Sleeper Chinese type III prestressed concrete sleeper

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Concrete properties Density 2500 kg/m 2400 kg/m3
Modulus of elasticity 38 GPa 33 GPa
Poisson ratio 0.18 0.23
Compressive Strength 60 MPa 65 MPa
Prestressed wire properties Density 7850 kg/m3 9800 kg/m3
Modulus of elasticity 196.5 GPa 200 GPa
Poisson ratio 0.3 0.3
Yield Strength 1385 MPa 1570 MPa

Fig. 3. Finite element model of sleeper.

1. Indian Sleeper: and the concrete of the sleeper is modelled as a solid element. The
a) Length of track gauge: 1676 mm. connection between the line body and the solid body is considered
b) Concrete strength: M60. fully bonded, and the bond-slip and bursting conditions are not
c) No of prestressing tendons: 18 No. of 9 mm diameter. taken into consideration as per the data reported by[8]. The prop-
d) Prestressing force: 630 kN. erties of the material that were considered in the FE model are
2. Chinese type III prestressed concrete sleeper: illustrated in Table 1. The material properties of the sleepers were
a) Length of track gauge: 1435 mm. selected because they were indistinguishable from prestressed
b) Concrete strength: C60. concrete sleepers that were manufactured in India and China.
c) No of prestressing tendons: 10 No. of 7 mm diameter. The bolt pre-tension command was used for applying a pre-
d) Prestressing force: 420 kN. tensioning force [8 11].

2.2. Material property 3. Model validation

The primary material in prestressed concrete sleepers [PCS] is For validation of the model, a CT III PCS has been considered to
concrete, and for samples measuring 150 mm  150 mm in cube check the material and structural properties of the model [8 12 13].
size, the minimum 28-day strength should be 60 MPa for both At the University of Beijing Jiaotong, an experimental programme
sleepers [9 10]. Longitudinal prestressed tendons are used of size was conducted (exhibited in Fig. 4) for validating the FE model.
18 No. of 9 mm diameter and 10 No. of 7 mm diameter for Indian The load applied was increased up to 140 kN [8].
and CT III PCS, respectively. The modulus of elasticity of concrete is
38 GPa and 33 GPa for Indian and CT III PCS, respectively. The other
material properties of the sleepers that are used in modelling are
shown in Table 1.

2.3. Modelling

The finite element [FE] analysis was carried out in ANSYSÒ 2021
R1 software, which is used globally. The full-scale models of the
Indian sleeper and CT III PCS were modelled in accordance with
the specifications of standard codes for the numerical analysis.
While modelling the sleeper, concrete and prestressing tendon
wire material properties were assigned to the concrete and pre-
stressed tendon materials in the ANSYS engineering data tab. A
hex-dominant (hexagonal) mesh with a maximum size of 30 mm
[5 8] has been generated for analyzing the sleeper, as shown in
Fig. 3. The prestressed tendons were modelled as a beam element, Fig. 4. Static capacity of sleeper test setup [8].

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B.V. Naik, Y. Kishor, S. Saha et al.
Fig. 5. Validation of load–deflection response between experimental and FE results.
Fig. 6. Load-deflection response of Indian and Chinese type III prestressed concrete
sleepers.
The numerically obtained results were compared with the
experimental test results for validating the quality of the FE model
[8 13 14]. Fig. 3. shows the sleeper model, and Fig. 5. presents the
comparison of results obtained between the FE analysis and the
Fig. 7. Higher stress accumulation and associated cracks at the centre top of Indian sleeper.
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Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
experimental programme. The modelled and experimental results
are in acceptable consensus, and the difference between numerical
and experimental results is 6.3%.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Load vs deflection curve
For obtaining the load–deflection response, the load was given
as incremental load, as per the static capacity test shown in
Fig. 4. for both sleepers. From Fig. 6, it was found that maximum
deflection was 6.3 mm and 6.9 mm for the Indian sleeper and CT
III PCS, respectively. For the CT III PCS, the deflection is more at
the initial loading than the Indian sleeper, but the Indian sleeper
enters the plastic region earlier than the CT III PCS. This is due to
the fact that the Indian sleeper has relatively more number of ten-
dons (18 Nos.), however, the yield strength of individual tendons is
lesser compared to tendons in CT III PCS (10 Nos). But the maxi-
mum deflection is approximately similar for both the sleepers.
4.2. Stress distribution
The stress distribution for both the sleeper was analyzed in
ANSYS software. A load of 170 kN at each rail seat section is applied
at both rail seat regions. The stress distribution is considered along
the length and cross-section of the sleepers. The stresses generated
are considered only at six sleeper sections, i.e., centre top, centre
bottom, left rail seat top, left rail seat bottom, right rail seat top,
and right rail seat bottom.
The stress variations in different regions for both sleepers are
shown in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9. The stress distribution values for both
sleepers are shown in Table. 2. The stress distribution at the rail
seat section (both left and right) are quite similar for Indian and
CT III PCS’s. However, the stress distribution at the mid-section
are different for both Indian and CT III PCS. From Table 2, it is clear
that the stresses generated at the mid-section (centre top) of the
Indian sleeper are more compared to the CT III PCS. The centre
top of the Indian sleeper had 30.45% more stresses compared to
the centre top of the CT III PCS. This is attributed to the fact that
Indian sleeper geometry has a continuous slope from the centre
of the section to the end of the section, which could lead to stress
accumulation at the mid-section of the sleeper. The higher stress
accumulation and associated cracks at the centre top of the Indian
sleeper may be observed in Fig. 7.
It was also observed that the Indian sleeper showed 45.21% les-
ser stresses at the mid-section (centre bottom) when compared to
the CT III PCS. This may be attributed to the fact that the Indian
sleeper had more number of tendons with less spacing, which
B.V. Naik, Y. Kishor, S. Saha et al.
Fig. 8. Stress distribution of Indian sleeper.
resulted in lesser stresses at the centre bottom when compared to
the CT III PCS.
4.3. Model response
The modal response for the sleepers was analyzed in ANSYS
software. During the modal analysis, only vertical deflection mode
shapes (i.e. U-shape, M shape and N-shape) were considered for
the modal response. The horizontal and twisting deflection mode
shapes are not considered because these deflection shapes are
not much predominant in the actual condition [8]. The FREE FREE
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boundary conditions was used during modal analyses [15]. The
mode shapes and the mode shape frequency values are shown in
Fig. 10, and Table 3, respectively.
5. Conclusions
This paper presents the performance analysis of two sleepers
using ANSYS software, and the performance of the sleepers was
assessed. The following are the major conclusions from the present
study.
B.V. Naik, Y. Kishor, S. Saha et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 9. Stress distribution of CT III PCS.

Table 2
Stress distribution along the length of the sleeper.

Sleeper Rail seat [Right] (MPa) Centre (MPa) Rail seat [Left] (MPa)
Top Bottom Top Bottom Top Bottom
Indian sleeper 14.08 13.92 44.52 13.93 14.45 13.75
Chinese type III prestressed concrete sleeper 15.92 15.34 30.95 20.23 15.23 14.85

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B.V. Naik, Y. Kishor, S. Saha et al.
Fig. 10. Modal response of Indian and CT III PCS’s.
Table 3
Modal response of the sleeper.
Sleeper First mode shape frequency (Hz)
Indian sleeper 60
Chinese type III prestressed concrete sleeper 55
 From the load–deflection response, the CT III PCS shows more
deflection at the initial loading condition. At the initial loading
condition, the Indian sleeper gives less deflection, which may
be due to having more number of tendons. The maximum
deflection is approximately similar for both sleepers.
 The centre top of the Indian sleeper had 30.45% more stresses
compared to the centre top of the CT III PCS. This is attributed
to the fact that Indian sleeper geometry has a continuous slope
from the centre of the section to the end of the section, which
could lead to stress accumulation at the mid-section of the
sleeper.
 It was also observed that the Indian sleeper showed 45.21% les-
ser stresses at the centre bottom when compared to the CT III
PCS. This is due to the fact that Indian sleeper had more number
of tendons at the centre bottom layer than the CT III PCS.
 Overall, the Chinese sleeper performs slightly better than the
Indian sleeper.
 There is a lot of scope for improving the performance of Indian
sleepers by adopting different kinds of sleeper geometry.
Data availability
Data will be made available on request.
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Second mode shape frequency (Hz) Third mode shape frequency (Hz)
182 431
193 480
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
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