Field instrumentation in order to study the behaviour of a conventional railway platform

Abstract

The behaviour of a conventional railway platform has been studied by field monitoring. An experimentation site was first selected among the existing 30.000 kilometers of conventional tracks in France based on different criteria in terms of traffic type, conditions of the track (rails & sleepers) and type of subgrade soils. The site selected should also have no maintenance needed since the last renewal. Finally, a site located in Vierzon (Centre/FR) was selected. A prospection campaign was first undertaken at the site to determine the position and nature of each soil layer in the platform. Afterwards, the site was instrumented with different sensors such as accelerometers, geophones, soil pressure sensors, water-pore pressure sensors, strain gauges etc. In total, there were more than 40 sensors installed through 1 5 boreholes. Four different depths from the sleeper to the subgrade were considered. The trains involved run at different speeds from 80 to 200 km/h, and their axle weights (locomotives and wagons) vary from 7 t per axle to 22.5 t per axle.