Fractal Characteristics of Transverse Crack Propagation on CRTSII Type Track Slab

Objectives of this study are to examine influence of the surface crackles fractal characteristics of CRTSII track slab on its propagation velocity and stress intensity factor (SIF) and to improve the service performance of track slab. In this paper, fractal dimension D of transverse crack on the surface of CRTSII track slab was calculated by image processing, digital image technology, and box-counting method. Based on the fractal structure of transverse crack on track slab surface, a fractal transverse crack propagation model was established. The impact of fractal effect on the surface crack propagation velocity and SIF of CRTSII track slab was analyzed quantitatively. The fractal dimension D of transverse crack is 1.0652 on the surface of CRTSII track slab. The actual measured crack propagation velocity V0 on the surface of the track slab can be corrected as the true crack propagation velocity V. When the V0/Cr=0.899<1, the SIF K′L1.0652,t,V of transverse dynamic fractal crack propagation on the surface of track slab has been equal to 0, and the V0 is always lower than Rayleigh wave velocity. In addition, the true attenuation rate of SIF for CRTSII track slab surface transverse dynamic crack propagation is faster than the actual measured value.