International Concrete Crosstie and Fastening System Symposium

University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignChampaign-Urbana, IL

6-8 June 2012

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 2

Safety Briefing• Emergency Exits Right and Left of 1310

– Reassemble on north side of Main Street (north of Yeh Student Center)

– Use the buddy system, look out for your neighbor• In the event of severe weather (tornado) please take

shelter in basement of Newmark Lab– Stairs located inside Newmark Civil Engineering Lab, on

the northwest corner of the building– UIUC personnel will receive text alerts

• Who is CPR Certified?• AED in Newmark Crane Bay (Near Center of Bay)

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 3

Safety Briefing (Cont.)• Newmark Crane Bay – Please use caution• Note any tripping hazards in the classrooms or in the

Newmark Crane Bay• No smoking in the building or near the entrances• Campus Phone Emergency Number: 11911

– For cell phone users, please dial 911– Assign designated callers

• Meeting Location: Newmark Civil Engineering Lab, Yeh Student Center, 205 N. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 4

Current Research Program• Personnel

– 7 Graduate Research Assistants– Post Doctoral Researcher– 6 Undergraduate Students– 2 Research Engineers– 4 Principal Investigators (PIs)

• Research Sponsors– Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)– CN Fellowship in Railroad Engineering– Association of American Railroads (AAR)

Technology Scanning Program– Amsted RPS / Amsted Rail, Inc.– NEXTRANS Region 5 Transportation Center

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 5

Improved Concrete Crosstie and Fastening System Research Program

Objectives• Conduct an international literature review and

state-of-the-art assessment • Conduct laboratory and field testing• Develop mechanistic tie and fastener design

practicesDeliverables and Outcomes• Improved mechanistic design recommendations

for concrete crossties and fasteners• Improved safety and reliability of infrastructure

components• Centralized document depository

Industry Partners:

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 6

Symposium Administrative Items• Overview of Newmark Civil Engineering Lab and the

Yeh Student Center– Meeting Room 1310– Conference Room 3350 [Reserve at registration desk]

• Wireless Internet Access (orange sheets inside folder)• Uploading Symposium Presentations Please see

Vicki Dixon or Kim Hagemann as soon as possible• Dinner Tonight at Memorial Stadium (5 June)

– Time, Location, and Parking

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 7

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Campus Map

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 8

Yeh Student Center (Newmark Civil Engineering Lab)

1st Floor

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 9

Yeh Student Center (Newmark Civil Engineering Lab)

2nd Floor

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 10

Yeh Student Center (Newmark Civil Engineering Lab)

3rd Floor

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 11

Memorial Stadium

Dinner Map• Parking locations shown in

Program (count of drivers)• Enter Memorial Stadium

from the west side, Gate 16

• Go to 6th Floor to the 77 Club

• Social Hour at 6:00 PM• Dinner at 7:00 PM• Prof. Freudenstein’s

Keynote Address to Follow

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 12

Dr. Amr S. Elnashai• Title

– Head, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

– William J. and Elaine F. Hall Endowed Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering

• Education– MS and PhD: Imperial College,

University of London, UK• Research Interests

– Multi-resolution distributed analytical simulations, network analysis, large-scale hybrid testing and field investigations of the response of complex networks and structures

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 13

Dr. Christopher Barkan• Title

– Professor - Civil and Environmental Engineering– Director - Rail Transportation & Engineering Center

and National University Rail Center (NURail)• Education

– PhD: State University of New York at Albany– MS: State University of New York at Albany– BA: Goddard College

• Research Interests– Rail safety, risk, hazardous materials transport, rail

capacity, energy efficiency• Teaching

– Railroad Transportation Engineering, Railway Signaling and Operation, Advances in Railway Technology, Shared Rail Corridor Engineering and Operation

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 14

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Welcoming Remarks

• Cam Stuart (Program Manager)

• Hugh Thompson (General Engineer)

Overview: RailTEC Concrete Crosstie and Fastening System Research Program

International Concrete Crosstie and Fastening System Symposium7 June 2012

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 16

Outline• Introduction• Research History Timeline• Overall Research Objectives• Current Research Thrusts• Current Research Highlights• Acknowledgements

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 17

Timeline2008 August – Hired First Graduate Research Assistant (John Zeman)2008 October – Attendance at First AREMA C-30 Meeting in Savannah, GA2009 January – First Research Project (CN and AAR funding)2009 August – Hired Second Graduate Research Assistant (Mauricio Gutierrez)2009 October – Second Project (Amsted RPS funding)2010 August – Hired Third Graduate Student (Ryan Kernes)2011 January – Hired Full-Time Research Engineer (Marcus Dersch)2011 January – Third Research Project (NEXTRANS Co-Funding)2011 June – Begin FRA Tie and Fastener BAA• Principal Investigators (David Lange, Bassem Andrawes, Daniel Kuchma)• Hired Graduate Research Assistants (Sihang Wei, George Chen,

Justin Grasse, and Brandon Van Dyk)2011 Summer – Hired Graduate Research Assistants for Amsted RPS and NEXTRANS Projects (Chris Rapp and Amogh Shurpali)2012 Summer – Hired Second Full-Time Research Engineer (Ryan Kernes) and Graduate Research Assistant (Thiago Bizarria)

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 18

Research Levels

Materials

Concrete Mix Design

(Admixtures)Pad / Insulator

Materials

Components

Fastener (Fatigue)Shoulder

(Embedment)Prestress

Design Frictional Characteristics

System

Structural Improvements

(Modeling)System

Behavior(PLTM Testing)

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 19

Concrete Crosstie Materials Tests

Large Scale Abrasion Frame: Used to investigate abrasion as a mechanism leading to rail seat deterioration (RSD) while varying load magnitude and frequency

Lapping Machine: Provides a means to investigate concrete deterioration rate as a function of loading cycles

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 20

Concrete Crosstie Static Test Frames

Static Tie Tester: Used to study the flexural and bending moment behavior of the concrete crosstie under field loading conditions

Static Load Testing Machine (SLTM): Provides a means to study the behavior of the crosstie and fastening system under static load

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 21

Pulsating Load Testing Machine (PLTM)• Used for Full Scale

Concrete Tie and Fastening System Testing

• Housed at the Advanced Transportation and Research Engineering Laboratory (ATREL)

• Three 35,000 lb. actuators: two vertical and one horizontal

• Provides the ability to simulate various L/V ratios by varying loads

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 22

Monticello Railway Museum Test Installation

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 23

Acknowledgements - Organizations

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 24

Acknowledgements - Individuals– Amsted RPS / Amsted Rail, Inc.: Jose Mediavilla, Dave Bowman, Brent Wilson, Thai

Nguyen, Chase Nielsen– BNSF Railway: John Bosshart, Tom Brueske, Hank Lees, Seth Ogan, Hal Lewandoski,– Union Pacific Railroad: Kevin Hicks, Eric Gehringer, Dwight Clark, Steve Ashmore – Vossloh: Winfred Boesterling, Michael Steidl, Rigi Chackanad, Chris Kenyon– Pandrol Track Systems: Bob Coats, Scott Tripple, Dave Kangas, Frank Brady– CXT Concrete Ties: Pelle Duong, Jim Parsley, Mark Hammons, Vince Petersen– VAE Nortrak: Steve Mattson– Rocla Concrete Tie: Al Smith (retired), Rusty Crowley, Pedro Lemmertz– GIC: Mauricio Gutierrez, Carlos Gutierrez– TTCI: Dave Davis, Richard Reiff– Engis Corporation: Peter Kuo, Steven Griffin– Others: Jerry Rose, Conrad Ruppert, Tim Johns, Bill Riehl, Brandon Hunter, Al Smith,

Fabian Weber, John Clark, Jim Gauntt, Michael Land, Rob Loomis, Jeff DeGross– UIUC: Tim Prunkard, Don Marrow, Darold Marrow, Marc Killion, Ernie Barenberg, Greg

Banas, Jim Meister, Dauren Kumarbekov, Emily Van Dam, Josh Brickman, Steven Jastrzebski, Michael Wnek, Andrew Kimmle, Calvin Nutt, Alex Ng, Kris Gustafson

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 25

Thank You

Marcus DerschUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignRail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC)Email: mdersch2@iilinois.edu

International Concrete Crosstie and Fastening System Symposium

Objectives

Marcus Dersch, J. Riley Edwards, David Lange, Daniel Kuchma, Bassem Andrawes, and Ryan Kernes

2012 Concrete Crosstie SymposiumUrbana, IL, 6-8 June 2012

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 27

Symposium Objectives• Engage international and domestic concrete crosstie

communities with respect to:– Design requirements– Performance challenges– Innovative design solutions– Recent research– Research needs

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 28

Who is Attending• Five Continents: Seven Countries

– Australia, Austria, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, South Korea, and the United States• International and North American Concrete Crosstie Manufacturers

– LB Foster CXT, Conprem, KSA, Rocla, SSL, VAE Nortrak• International and North American Fastening System Manufacturers

– Amsted RPS, Pandrol, and Vossloh• North American Class I Railroads

– Amtrak, BNSF, CSX, and Union Pacific• Academic Researchers

– Kansas State, Michigan Tech, Technical University of Munich, the University of Illinois, and University of Wollongong

• Infrastructure Researchers• Automated Track Inspection, Engineering, and Testing Firms

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 29

Advancing the State of the Art• Federal Railway Administration’s Broad Agency Announcement

– Mechanistic Design of Concrete Crossties and Fastening Systems– Advanced Concrete Formulations– Freeze Thaw Performance– Prestress Bond

• LB Foster CXT Concrete Tie – Wing Tie– Supporting UIUC, KSU, Volpe under the BAA– RFID for life monitoring of crossties– Endura Tie

• SSL– Full Frame and Half Frame Ties

• Union Pacific– Rail pad study

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 30

Why We are Here

Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success

– Henry Ford

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 31

Expected Outcomes• Better understanding of current state of practice • Improved coordination among international and domestic

researchers, suppliers, owners, and maintainers• Industry-wide awareness of latest research projects• Strengthened relationships between industry and academic

community• Comprehensive list of research needs• Shared vision for the critical path to better performance and

increased utilization of concrete sleepers and fastening systems

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 32

Research Needs Statement Development• We need your participation!• Please use Google Document (see link that was

emailed this morning)• Three levels: materials, component, system• Need both basic and applied research needs

– Basic: research related to understanding fundamental relationships (e.g. materials properties)

– Applied: research that aims to solve practical problems (e.g. system level testing)

C-30 Meeting and Symposium – Opening Remarks Slide 33

Useful Contact Information• Vicki Dixon

– 1117 Newmark Lab– Cell: (217) 202-5492

• Marcus Dersch– 3214 Newmark Lab, – Cell: (812) 779-1750

• Riley Edwards– 1245A Newmark Lab– Cell: (931) 624-4623