Design of Pipe-Beam Made of Composite Materials for Evacuated Maglev Transportation System

Three types of widely used span pipe-beam,made of composite materials,including concrete/steel/glass and for evacuated maglev transportation,were designed.The stiffness and deformation of the self-designed “one-link multi-span” pipe-beam section,comprising pre-constructed upper/lower halves,were mathematically modeled and theoretically analyzed.The influence of the span-length on the longitudinal/vertical rigidity and displacement,thermal-deformation and intrinsic vibration frequency of pipe-beam section was investigated for design optimization.The results show that depending on the span-length,the one-link multi-span is a highly promising scheme.Specifically,as the span-length and span-number increased,the longitudinal/vertical rigidity and longitudinal thermal-deformation increased,resulting in a negative impact on the rail structure;and the dynamic deformation and maintenance cost decreased.The tested and calculated results were in good agreement.We suggest that the self-designed composite pipe-beam be of some technological interest in development of evacuated maglev transportation.