The influence of the rail beam on the settlement ofhigh-speed railway tracks : A discrete element study

• Modelling railway embankments have two main challenges in the discrete ele-ment method (DEM). First, the granular material of the embankment consistof millions of fine angular particles which are difficult to model due to thelong computational time. As a result, researchers prefer to use spherical orscale-up particles as granular material. Also, it prevents the modeling of thehigher number of loading cycles. Second, the DEM is incapable of includingcontinuous rail beams due to its discrete nature. Therefore, most of the re-search is limited to ignoring the rail beam and other structural elements ofthe track. In this study, a DEM model is calibrated against the measure-ment results of a physical full-scale ballasted track. The model is then used toinvestigate the effect of including the rail beam for high-speed railways sub-jected to 2000 axle passages. The results show that although ignoring therail beam does not substantially affect the results for initial loading cycles,its influence is significant after a couple of hundred axle passages. The modelwithout a rail beam shows more principal stress rotation, more settlement,non-realistic vertical displacement of the sleepers, more particle rearrange-ment and more sleepers’ vibration. Therefore, it is necessary to include therail beam in the long-term analysis of the track to conclude realistic results.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Samhällsbyggnadsteknik -- Geoteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Civil Engineering -- Geotechnical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

High-speed railway

Ballasted track

Discrete element method

Moving load

Polygonal shape

Track settlement

Soil and Rock Mechanics

Jord- och bergmekanik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)