Two parallel rails are running on railway sleepers. The center-to-center distance between the rails is b with the sleepers projecting by an amount 'a' at each end beyond the rails. When the train passes over the rails, the reaction exerted by the ground can be taken as uniformly distributed over the sleeper. The ratio \(\frac{b}{a}\) for the condition that the maximum bending moment is as small as possible is

Two parallel rails are running on railway sleepers. The center-to-cent

1.	Two parallel rails are running on railway sleepers. The center-to-center distance between the rails is b with the sleepers projecting by an amount 'a' at each end beyond the rails. When the train passes over the rails, the reaction exerted by the ground can be taken as uniformly distributed over the sleeper. The ratio \(\frac{b}{a}\) for the condition that the maximum bending moment is as small as possible is
A.	2.83
B.	2.90
C.	2.50
D.	3.00
Answer» B. 2.90