J. A. Zakeri - School of Railway Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran
M. J. Razavi - School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
Arash Bakhtiary - School of Railway Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
Ahmad Kasraei - School of Railway Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran

The most important parameter for maintaining stability in the horizontal line is lateral resistance of ballasted railway track. Among the techniques used to increase lateral stability at track can mention usage of frictional concrete sleepers. In this type of sleeper, In order to more contact between the lower part of the sleeper and upper surface layer of ballast, the trapezoidal shape of the jags is used. According to the particular geometry of the underside jags, crack initiation and extension due to the lateral loading is an important subject to been investigated for this kind of sleeper. By focus on the fracture mechanics concept in this paper, the geometry of frictional concrete sleeper jags has been analyzed by the finite element software ABAQUS. It should be noticed that a higher crack initiation life for the model is an important subject for designing this kind of sleeper. Given the brittle behavior of concrete sleeper, the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) is a proper manner to study the crack growth behavior.

Concrete sleeper; Crack growth; Brittle material; Extended Finite Element Method