Dynamic behaviours of precast steel-concrete composite railway track slabs

This paper highlights an investigation into the dynamic behaviours of a precast steel-concrete composite slab panel for railway track slabs. The steel-concrete composite slab track is an evolvement from the slab track, a form of ballastless track which is becoming increasingly attractive to asset owners (over the conventional ballasted track) as they seek to reduce lifecycle costs and deal with increasing rail traffic speeds. The precast steel-concrete composite slab track is much suited for the replacement of existing track and transom elements on existing steel girder railway bridges due to its savings in depth of construction, self weight and ease of construction. The slender nature of the slab panel due to its reduced depth of construction makes it susceptible to vibration problems. The goal of the study is to successfully address the dynamic behaviours of steel-concrete composite slab panels in three dimensions. A finite element model has been established and validated using ABAQUS/Standard. Lancsoz method has been used to identify natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes. The first 15 natural frequencies and associated natural modes of vibration of the slab panel were identified. Effect of alternative materials in lieu of the steel sheeting has also been investigated and highlighted in this paper. Our studies show that the damping had marginal effect on the dynamic behaviours of the track slab panel.