Posted by admin | Posted in checkers | Posted on 07-09-2010
Tags: continuous track, continuous track cribbage rules, continuous track design, continuous tracking, development, fiber assignment by continuous tracking, java, search, tools, web2.0
New railway tracks are made from a continuous welded section. How do the rails allow for thermal expansion?
Surely rails without gaps would deform as they expand?
This has actually been a problem with welded rail since it was first used 50 years or so ago.
The rails are held down to the wooden ties with tie plates, this limits the movement in only 2 directions. If you walk down the rails far enough you will find places where the rails are bolted together with a reinforcing plate on each side of the rail and about 6 or 8 bolts holding the steel ‘sandwich’ together. You will note that the rails have a slight gap between them and,usually, this is sufficient for the rails to move due to thermal expansion.
The railroads found that welding and laying rails in the heat of summer went a long way towards limiting thermal expansion because the later movement tended to be contraction rather than expansion.
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