Suspended Mining Monorail Composite-Steel Rail Resistance to Static and Fatigue Loads

The development of monorail transport systems began relatively recently, though their history dates back to the early 19th century. In modern hard coal mining, a suspended monorail is a basic means of auxiliary personnel and material transportation. A project with the acronym HEET II is currently being carried out as part of the European Union’s Research Fund for Coal and Steel. One of the elements of the transport system developed as part of the project is the composite steel rail that constitutes the subject of this publication. The innovative rail design serves as the runway for the suspended monorail and an element of its power supply system. This paper supplements a certain research gap or rather undertakes the first attempt at testing a railway track formed from composite-steel rails consisting of a composite section in the middle, similar in shape to an I-beam, as well as two steel joints constituting the ends for mounting further rails and for coupling with the hoists. It presents the methodology and results of composite-steel rail testing under static and cyclic fatigue loading and prolonged bending loading applied to the rail during a creep test. It also presents the results of comparative tests for the composite steel rail and a conventional steel rail during overloading and break tests under bending loading. The composite-steel rail test methodology was significantly expanded relative to the conventional steel rail methodology, given that the composite materials and resins are strongly susceptible to creeping, and their operation under cyclic loads exhibits a greater risk of failure compared to steel rails. The composite-steel rail test results presented in this article make it possible to conclude that despite its existing design flaws, applying this type of rail design in underground suspended monorail transportation cannot be excluded.