Track Inspection Advancements and Applications  | Available 19 May 2021
Concrete Crosstie Design and Performance  | Available 26 May 2021
Resilient Materials and Crosstie Support  | Available 2 June 2021
Composite and Interspersed Crossties  | Available 9 June 2021
Fastening System Design and Performance  | Available 16 June 2021

Track Inspection Advancements and Applications
19 May 2021

Next Generation Imaging Techniques for Crosstie Inspection
Antonio Mauricio & Jeb Belcher – Loram Technologies, Inc.
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Use of Laser Triangulation and Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) for Railway Track Safety Inspections
Richard Fox-Ivey – Railmetrics
Ryan Harrington – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Holland Track Testing Fastening System Inspection and the Role of GRMS in Geometry Analysis
Russ Newburg & Sabri Cakdi – Holland
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Intelligent Railroad Track Components Inspection
Yu Qian & Feng Guo – University of South Carolina
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Advancing GRMS Technology by Assessing Emerging Failures
Hugh Thompson – Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
Ted Sussmann – Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
Radim Bruzek – ENSCO
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Concrete Crosstie Design and Performance
26 May 2021

Using Available Technologies to Select the Prestressing Wire Indent Characteristics to Meet the Unique Requirements of Pretensioned Concrete Railroad Ties
Bob Peterman – Kansas State University
Steve Mattson – voestalpine Nortrak
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Implementing DIC Technologies in Performance Assessment and Quality Control of Concrete Ties
Dimitris Rizos – University of South Carolina
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

The Effect of Water Flow in Cracks of Pretensioned Concrete Beams under Cyclic Loading
Josué Bastos – Techinicontrol
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Development of an ASTM Standard for Measurement of Key Indented Reinforcement Characteristics
Terry Beck – Kansas State University
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Adaptive Prestressing System for Concrete Crossties using Shape Memory Alloys
Minsoo Sung & Bassem Andrawes – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Resilient Materials and Crosstie Support
2 June 2021

BNSF Experience with Resilient Materials and Track Support
Erik Frohberg – BNSF Railway
Arthur Lima – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Effect of Traffic on Concrete Crosstie Ballast Pressures using Ballast Support Condition Back-Calculator
Riley Edwards, Camila Pereira Silva & Marcus Dersch – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Field Testing to Assess Rail Strain Gage Measurements as Means to Evaluate Track Support Conditions
Deb Mishra & Md Fazle Rabbi – Oklahoma State University
Radim Bruzek – ENSCO
Ted Sussmann – Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
Hugh Thompson – Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Development and Use of Tests on Under Tie Pads in Regards to the European Standard
Veronika Kollmeier – Technical University of Munich
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Track Geometry Errors Caused by Convex Turnout Crossties
Riku Varis & Tommi Rantala- Tampere University
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Effects of Mixed Traffic Patterns and Ballast Support Conditions on Track Performance Investigated through Discrete Element Modeling
Erol Tutumluer, Zhongyi Liu & Bin Feng – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

The Use of Under Sleeper Pads and Under Ballast Mat to Improve the Performance of Railway Transition Zones
Melina Clara Scasserra, Carlos Aprile, Pablo Cocordano, Pablo Tanaro & Nicolas Beradi  – Trenes Argentinos Infraestructura
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Composite and Interspersed Crossties
9 June 2021

Union Pacific Composite Tie Strategies
Rachel Beck – Union Pacific Railroad
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Field Assessment of Engineered Interspersed Concrete Crossties in Commuter Rail Ballasted Track
Jaiek Lee & Arthur Lima – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Nonlinear Structural Analysis of Recycled Polymer Composite Crossties under Flexural and In-situ Loading Applications using Finite Element Analysis
David Jack & Daniel Pulipati – Baylor University
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Evaluation of Use Concrete, Steel and Composite Crossties Interspersed with Wooden Crossties in a Brazilian General Freight Corridor
Patrick Macedo – VLI
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

A New Track Homologation Methodolgy – Polymeric Crossties Approach
Aldo Machado & R. Vargas – Braskem
A. Merheb – MRS Logística S/A
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Fastening System Design and Performance
16 June 2021

North American Spike Fatigue Failures – The Effect of Fastener Stiffness
Christian Khachaturian & Marcus Dersch – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Spike Loading and Failure Modes
Shushu Liu – Volpe National Transportation Systems Center
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Automated Broken Spike Detection Using Ultrasonic Testing
Yin Gao & Anish Poudel – Association of American Railroads
Cameron Stuart – Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Direct Fixation Track: History and Development
Sheen Fong – LB Foster
Matt Gibbs – Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Test and Verification Methods of Rail Fastening Systems Applied in Japan
Tadashi Deshmimaru – Railway Technical Research Institute
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)

Direct Fixation Track Fastening System Design – Field Loading Demands and Behavior, and Anchorage Structural Capacity
Arthur Lima – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Presentation (Video) | Slides (PDF)