The Behaviour of the Embedded Rail in Interaction with Bridges

Since the introduction of the direct fastening system, Embedded Rail System (ERS) is probably one of the most spectacular and innovative developments in railway engineering. The development has become more rapid, especially in the last decade due to competitive advantages in comparison toother systems with respect to higher speed, cost effectiveness, environmental-material sustainability and others. But still there is a lack of specific interaction model, especially when it comes to bridges equipped with ERS system. Previous studies on ERS by Estzer Ludvigh² found out some important coefficients (vertical and longitudinal bedding coefficient) and compared the longitudinal resistance of ERS with flexible fastening systems. Other studies on ERS do not specifically deal with the evaluation of longitudinal resistance of such a system. With a view to establish the typical behaviour pattern of ERS, this paper is dedicated to find out the interaction of a specific Embedded Rail System with bridges. A small scale test was conducted on a sample of ERS in the laboratory under different combinations of vertical and longitudinal track loads and subsequently a Finite Element Model (FEM) was developed to simulate the test. The paper presents the FEA result validation with test results, the interaction pattern, longitudinal resistance of ERS track for both loaded and unloaded conditions, design load distribution for such systems and some specific influences of ERS on simply supported bridge systems.