On the determination of the rail support modulus k

With the adoption and use of equation EIwIV ‡ kw ˆ q for track analyses, various methods for the determination of k, the rail support modulus, were proposed during the past several decades. However, some of these methods are dicult to use or are of questionable validity. Therefore, at ®rst, a simple yet accurate method that is consistent with this equation is presented and its use is illustrated on practical examples. Then, other published methods are critically reviewed and their shortcomings are pointed ou