PIs: Marcus Dersch, P.E. | Arthur Lima Experiments were conducted in a loading frame filled with ~24 inches of ballast material. A track panel (half-crossties and rail) were placed on top of the ballast and vertical loads were applied to the rail at the center crosstie using a manual hydraulic jack reacting off of the […]
PI: Prof. Bill Spencer, Prof. James Phillips, and Prof. German Gurfinkel
PI: B. Andrawes/Student: M. Sung This project focused on developing an Adaptive Prestressing System (APS) for concrete crossties. The new prestressing system utilizes a unique characteristic of a class of smart materials known as Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs). Through heating, a SMA can recover its original shape after being excessively deformed beyond its elastic range. […]
