To evaluate the fatigue life of jointed rails, it is necessary to clarify the stress field around fish bolt holes and an S-N curve of jointed rails. Therefore, we carried out field tests, static loading tests in a laboratory to measure the stresses around the fish bolt holes, dynamic stress analysis of jointed rails and bending fatigue tests of rails used in the field. Based on the study results, we established a method to evaluate the fatigue life of jointed rails. In this method, stresses are evaluated for several conditions of jointed rail, vehicle type and vehicle speed. The fatigue life is calculated by applying the stresses to the S-N curve.

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