CIVIL RESEARCH GROUP SEMINAR Wednesday 17th June 2015 2-­‐3pm A401 – School of Engineering New Materials, Design and Analysis of Railway Turnout Systems Dr. Sakdirat (Zac) Kaewunruen, Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and EducaAon (BCRRE), University of Birmingham, UK. ABSTRACT Railway turnout systems are a special track system used to divert a train from a parAcular direcAon or a parAcular track onto other direcAons or other tracks. Inevitably, it is a main and criAcal feature in railway tracks. There are two types of turnout support structures, which can be designed to be either a slab or a cluster of discrete bearers. The choice of turnout support system depends on asset management strategy of the rail operators or maintainers. This presentaAon will focus on the discrete turnout bearer system where turnout alignments, seTlement and deformaAon are relaAvely more flexible, resilient and retrievable by rouAne ballast tamping. It embraces the consideraAon of new materials for use as a turnout bearer. TradiAonal bearer materials are Amber, steel, and concrete. Recent developments have resulted in adopAon of new materials, such as 'fibre-­‐reinforced foamed urethane (FFU)', 'geopolymer concrete', 'recycled polymer', and 'CarbonLoc composite'. The aim of this presentaAon is to highlight the criteria, fundamental and mulA-­‐disciplinary issues of bearer design in a grillage turnout system. Some of new materials' characterisAcs are illustrated to provide an in-­‐depth understanding into the staAc and dynamic performances of a turnout over its life cycle, as well as the benefits of new materials in reducing the depth of bearers while maintaining stability. As a case study, a full-­‐scale trial to invesAgate in-­‐situ behaviours of a turnout grillage system using an alternaAve material, 'fibre-­‐reinforced foamed urethane (FFU)' bearers, will be presented to demonstrate effecAveness and stability improvement of the turnout system. ABOUT THE SPEAKER Dr. Sakdirat (Zac) Kaewunruen is a Senior Lecturer in Railway and Civil Engineering at BCRRE. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering (Railway Infrastructure) from the University of Wollongong (Australia) and completed a Leadership program at John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, USA. He has over 14 years of professional and industry experience in both public and private sectors in Australia, Thailand, Japan, Sweden, and USA. He is a Chartered Engineer in both Civil and Structural Colleges (CPEng). He held visiAng appointments at various insAtuAons, including MassachuseTs InsAtute of Technology (MIT), Chalmers University of Technology’s Railway Mechanics Centre, Railway Technical Research InsAtute, and University of Tokyo. He is the 2015 JSPS invitaAon fellow, has over 200 technical publicaAons and consultancy reports, and has served on the editorial boards of many internaAonal journals, including Structural Monitoring and Maintenance, Shock and VibraAon, Journal of Structures, ScienAfic World Journal, and InternaAonal Conference of Railway Technology. He is a Chief Editor of FronAers in TransportaAon and Transit Systems (open access alliance of Nature Publishing Group ). This seminar is open to all and refreshments are provided. For more informa4on, contact Dr Stefano U4li by email at s.u4li@warwick.ac.uk