Railway Track for the 21st Century

21世纪的铁路轨道

基本信息

批准号：
EP/H044949/1
负责人：
William Powrie
金额：
$ 400.02万
依托单位：
University of Southampton
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2010
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2010 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FH044949%2F1
关键词：
Railway Track 21st Century

项目摘要

The majority of the world's railways - including all main lines in the UK - are currently on ballasted track. Although there have been developments in component specifications and materials, the principles of the system have changed little over the past 150 years. Ballasted track has generally been considered to offer the optimum solution in terms of construction cost, stiffness and drainage properties, and ease of modification: thus although more highly engineered track forms have been used (e.g. in Japan, Germany and China), ballasted track has been employed both for upgrades such as the UK West Coast Main Line and for new high speed lines including HS1 (UK), TGV (France) and AVE (Spain). However, the limitations of ballasted track as currently constructed are becoming more apparent and more significant as the demands placed upon it have increased. This has led to higher than expected maintenance requirements and costs, and demonstrates that a transformation in track performance - by retro-fit measures for existing ballasted track, or by an informed decision in favour of an alternative track system in the case of large-scale renewals - is essential if the Government's aspirations of reduced cost and increased capacity for rail transport are to be realised. This Programme Grant will bring about a step-change improvement in the engineering, economic and environmental performance of railway track making it fit for a 21st century railway, by developing new techniques for its design, construction and maintenance. By obtaining a better understanding of the behaviour of track components, the interactions between them and their response to external loading and environmental conditions, the performance of railway track can be significantly enhanced. Improved understanding will allow the development of more effective and efficient maintenance and renewal strategies, leading in turn to reduced costs, increased capacity and improved reliability. The Programme Grant will also enable a radical overhaul of current railway track design appropriate for both new build (e.g. HS2) and upgrades to meet current and future train loading requirements more efficiently than is at present possible. Meeting these challenges will require a coordinated programme of research to investigate how the various components of the track system relate to each other and to external factors. This will involve a series of inter-related experiments together with supporting mathematical and numerical modelling, field monitoring and observation. The outputs of these studies will feed into economic modelling work, leading to the production of a decision-support tool, for use by industry, to appraise the cost implications of using different track technologies in combination with specific external factors. The aims of this Programme Grant can only be achieved by combining a variety of skills and techniques. The research team therefore comprises world-leading engineers and scientists from different disciplines and universities, working together to apply their collective expertise. A well-defined organisational structure and adaptable methods of operation will together provide a high level of integration and synergy between the various research areas and activities; excellent communications between the researchers, institutions and industry partners; flexibility in the allocation and use of resources; agility and responsiveness in research direction; proactive management of risk; and ownership and early uptake of research results by industry.

目前，世界上大多数铁路（包括英国的所有主要线路）都处于压载轨道上。尽管组件规格和材料有所发展，但在过去的150年中，该系统的原理几乎没有变化。通常认为，压载轨道在施工成本，僵硬和排水特性以及易于修改方面提供了最佳解决方案：因此，尽管已经使用了更高的工程轨道表格（例如，在日本，德国和中国），但压载轨道已经使用既受雇于英国西海岸主线等升级，又受雇于新的高速公路，包括HS1（英国），TGV（法国）和AVE（西班牙）。但是，随着对其的需求的增加，当前构建的压载轨道的局限性变得越来越明显和重要。这导致了高于预期的维护要求和成本，并证明了轨道性能的转换 - 通过现有压载轨道的恢复措施，或者是通过明智的决定，有利于大规模的替代轨道系统续订 - 如果要实现政府降低成本和增加铁路运输能力的愿望，则至关重要。该计划的赠款将通过为其设计，建筑和维护的新技术开发新技术，从而在铁轨的工程，经济和环境绩效方面进行逐步改进。通过更好地了解轨道成分的行为，它们之间的相互作用以及它们对外部负载和环境条件的反应，可以显着提高铁路轨道的性能。改善的理解将使更有效，更有效的维护和更新策略的发展，进而导致成本降低，增加容量和可靠性提高。该计划赠款还将对当前铁路轨道设计进行重大改革，适合于新建版本（例如HS2）和升级，以比目前可能更有效地满足当前和未来的火车加载要求。应对这些挑战将需要协调的研究计划，以调查轨道系统的各个组成部分之间的相互关系和外部因素。这将涉及一系列相互关联的实验，并支持数学和数值建模，现场监测和观察。这些研究的产出将融入经济建模工作，从而导致产生决策支持工具，以供行业使用，以评估使用不同的轨道技术与特定外部因素结合使用的成本含义。该计划赠款的目的只能通过结合各种技能和技术来实现。因此，研究团队包括来自不同学科和大学的世界领先的工程师和科学家，共同运用其集体专业知识。定义明确的组织结构和适应性的运营方法将共同提供各个研究领域和活动之间的高度集成和协同作用；研究人员，机构和行业合作伙伴之间的良好沟通；资源分配和使用的灵活性；在研究方向上的敏捷性和响应能力；主动管理风险；以及行业对研究结果的所有权和早期吸收。