Ballast Resistance: Discreet vs. Unit Resistance

As per current industry practice, lateral resistance per tie or discreet resistance [N] is divided by the tie spacing to convert it to longitudinal resistance or unit resistance [N/cm] although lateral resistance of a tie from field test often comes without the mention of tie spacing and/or tie type. This is demonstrated in the paper that the use of tie spacing is not legitimate and would offer unacceptable value in case of short tie spacing. The potential source of error of using tie spacing is discussed. As an extension of the work, this is demonstrated that longitudinal resistance [N/cm] of a fastener obtained by dividing longitudinal restraint [N] of a fastener by its spacing is also dubious.