The primary function of rail fastening clips is to ensure sufficient clamping force by which the fastening system resists movements of the rail within its fixing place under all loading conditions. Since the clamping force at the rail foot is achieved by the deformation of the elastic clip, the stiffness of the clip and thus the magnitude of the clamping force depend on the material properties and geometry of the clip and are essential factors affecting the complex mechanical behaviour of the fastening system. In this paper, to conduct a parametric study of the clips, a visual script for SKL clip geometrical parametrisation has been developed using Grasshopper3D, an add-on for Rhino3D. The CAD model obtained in this way can be easily imported into Abaqus, where Finite Element Analysis (FEA) can be performed on the geometrically parametrised clip model, providing a good insight into the change of clip stiffness.

FE model; parametric study; geometric parametrization; SKL clip; elastic clip; fastening system