Assessing the flexion behavior of bolted rail joints using finite element analysis

Abstract The weakest component in the railway track structure is rail joint. It is one of the safety acute joints available which provided a break in continuity of the rail track. It connected the two ends of the rail with nut and bolt to achieve mechanical and functional requirements of smooth running of the train. Due to increase in traffic density, rail joints are subjected to high axle load. As structure bolted joint, it become most vulnerable parts in railway track. In this paper, three-dimensional Finite Element Analyses (FEA) of bolted rail joints is carried out to study the structural integrity and deflection performance of rail bolted joint bars under static loading conditions. The rail joint has been investigated under different loading conditions and stress distribution at the joint bars and nuts & bolts region to understand the behavior. This paper also presents an analysis of bolted joints with specific attention to quantify deformation and to the effect of the looseness of bolted joint to structural behavior. The effect of nuts & bolt looseness and deformation characteristics has been studied to improve the performance and life expectancy of the rail joints.