Reliability Analysis of Rheda Slab Track System under Traffic Loads

Nowadays، the use of ballastless track is developing significantly because of several reasons. Decrease of height، decrease of maintenance cost، increase of service life،speed increasing capability and increase of track lateral resistance can be pointed as some of these reasons. As modern structures require more complex design، the need to assess uncertainities in loads، members geometry، material properties and other factors affecting the performance of the structure is growing. One method of assessing these uncertainties is reliability analysis. There are several methods in reliability analysis to determinate the safety index and the probability of failure. In this project the First Order Reliability Method (FORM) is used to determine the reliability index of a specified slab track. To reach this purpose an structural analysis is done and based on Response Surface Method، the best fitted internal force functions are achieved. Limit state functions are made based on the Eurocode criteria and the reliability index of mentioned slab track is calculated. Also a sensitivity analysis is made in order to determin the result of change of different factors on slab track reliability. Results indicate that the reliability of the studied slab track is adequate and the critical limit state for this slab track is the shear limit state. The yield stress of the reinforcement and concrete strength are the most important factors influencing the reliability of the slab track.