A Comparative Analysis of Timber and Composite Sleepers

Abstract

Traditionally, timber sleepers have been widely used in railways around the world; however, timber sleepers are prone to various forms of damage and failure. Additionally, recent decrease in supply of suitable wood for timber sleepers has generated interests in various railways to explore alternative materials for sleeper manufacturing including composites. This paper briefly compares the main mechanical properties of timber sleepers and glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites. Additionally, finite element analyses of the sleepers are undertaken and the von-misses stress and vertical deflection of the timber and GFRP sleepers under static load are evaluated and discussed.