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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Field Investigation of Broken Cut Spikes on Elastic Fasteners Using Instrumented Spikes

Document Series:
Research Results
Author:
  • Federal Railroad Administration
Report Number
RR 21-09
Office
RDI-21
Subject:
Track
Keywords:
Broken spikes, instrumented spikes, elastic fastening systems, in-track investigation, strain measurement
Document
Broken Spikes-A.pdf (637.39 KB)

FRA and Transportation Technology Center, Inc. conducted field experiments to investigate the spike failure mechanism found on elastic fastener tie plates. The investigation proved the bending load in cut spikes used with elastic fastening systems could be high enough to cause permanent bending or even fatigue cracking in the spike material.


Last updated: Friday, April 30, 2021