Behaviour of polymer filled composites for novel polymer railway sleepers

Wahid Ferdous; Allan Manalo; Choman Salih; Peng Yu; Rajab Abousnina; Tom Heyer; Peter Schubel

doi:10.3390/polym13081324

Behaviour of polymer filled composites for novel polymer railway sleepers

Wahid Ferdous^*, Allan Manalo, Choman Salih, Peng Yu, Rajab Abousnina, Tom Heyer, Peter Schubel

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

4 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A novel concept of polymer railway sleeper is proposed in this study that has the potential to meet static performance requirements within the cost of hardwood timber. The existing challenges of composite sleepers, such as low performance or high cost, can be overcome using this innovative concept. Such a proclamation is proven through limit state design criteria and a series of experimentations. Results show that polyurethane foam as an infill material can provide sufficient strength and stiffness properties to the sleeper, but the inadequate screw holding capacity could be a problem. This limitation, however, can be overcome using a particulate filled resin system. The findings of this study will help the railway industry to develop a timber replacement sleeper.

Original language	English
Article number	1324
Pages (from-to)	1-13
Number of pages	13
Journal	Polymers
Volume	13
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13081324 https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13081324
Publication status	Published - 2 Apr 2021

Keywords

composite sleeper
timber replacement sleeper
GFRP
structural performance
sustainable development

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10.3390/polym13081324Licence: CC BY
10.3390/polym13081324

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 786 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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AU - Salih, Choman

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AU - Abousnina, Rajab

AU - Heyer, Tom

AU - Schubel, Peter

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Behaviour of polymer filled composites for novel polymer railway sleepers

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