Experimental and numerical study on lateral and longitudinal resistance of ballasted track with nailed sleeper

Lateral and longitudinal resistance of ballasted track are two main indicators for the track stability quantification. Aiming at improving the lateral and longitudinal resistance, nailed sleeper is studied with single sleeper push tests (SSPTs) and discrete element modelling (DEM). The SSPTs were applied to study how much resistance the nailed sleeper can improve, considering different nail lengths (100, 200, 400 mm), and also used to calibrate and validate the DEM models. With the validated DEM models, different simulation conditions were performed and compared to confirm the optimal nail length (100, 200 mm) and nail number (2, 4). Results show that applying nailed sleepers improves the lateral resistance by 53.7% and the longitudinal resistance by 39.2%. 4 nails, compared to 2 nails, can increase lateral and longitudinal resistance by 20.2% and 10.6% (nail length: 100 mm) as well as 37.0% and 33.5% (nail length: 200 mm), respectively.