Theory 22/Railway Engineering
Track Buckling Is a Temperature Ratio
The claim
Continuous welded rail buckles when the ratio of temperature rise to lateral resistance exceeds a threshold, so a cooler day can buckle a track with poor restraint.
01Mechanism
Constrained rails develop compressive force with temperature; lateral resistance from ballast and fastenings opposes it, and the ratio sets the margin.
02Predictions
- P1Buckling should track the ratio.
- P2Absolute temperature should mispredict across restraint conditions.
03Refutation
Buckling tracking temperature rise alone would remove the resistance term.