Concrete Slab Track Design

[OSUCivlEng]

I am working on the design of some concrete slab track. I have a more senior engineer who is helping me, and he has some methods of his own that he has developed.

I have been looking for more information about designing slab track, but haven't had much luck. AREMA has some discussion in the commentary about referring to a PCA document and an ASCE journal from 1951 for the design.

Are there any design methods or a good document to refer to?

 

[Ron]

What is the use of the track? What type of traffic will it have? What are the loads and their frequency?

We need a bit more information in order to help.


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[OSUCivlEng]

It's for a railroad siding at a flour mill. Per AREMA it has to be designed for the standard Cooper E80 loading. The rail will be attached to the concrete slab with direct fixation fasteners.

I found a good Advanced Strength of Materials book by Hartog that discusses beams on elastic foundations. I can use that to calculate a bending moment in the slab and size the reinforcing. I will refer to CRCP design methodology for the transverse reinforcing to control cracking.

PCA recommends beams on elastic foundations or finite element analysis.