Modelling of ballasted railway track foundations under train moving loads

Recent congestion of highways in many countries around the world has led railways to become the most popular means of public transportation, which increased the demand for heavier and faster trains. This requires an investigation into the impact of various design parameters affecting the overall rai...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Abu Sayeed, M., Shahin, Mohamed
Other Authors: Graham Ramsay
Format: Conference Paper
Published: New Zealand Geotechnical Society 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30478
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author Abu Sayeed, M.
Shahin, Mohamed
author2 Graham Ramsay
author_facet Graham Ramsay
Abu Sayeed, M.
Shahin, Mohamed
author_sort Abu Sayeed, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Recent congestion of highways in many countries around the world has led railways to become the most popular means of public transportation, which increased the demand for heavier and faster trains. This requires an investigation into the impact of various design parameters affecting the overall railway track performance. Such an investigation is very important for railway geotechnical engineers to arrive at an optimum plan for track design and maintenance. In this paper, a sophisticated three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) modelling is developed to investigate the dynamic response of ballasted railway track subjected to train moving loads. All components of the ballasted railway track system are represented including the rail, sleepers, ballast, sub-ballast and subgrade. The viscous quiet boundaries are used to represent infinite boundary conditions so as to absorb the train induced vibration waves at the boundaries. The FE modelling is validated using field measurement data. A detailed parametric study is carried out to investigate the effects of train speed, and modulus and thickness of ballast, sub-ballast and subgrade on track performance. The track response in terms of rail displacement, ballast, subballast and subgrade surface vertical stresses, surface subgrade strain and track stiffness are presented and their practical implications in relation to track design are discussed.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-304782017-01-30T13:19:53Z Modelling of ballasted railway track foundations under train moving loads Abu Sayeed, M. Shahin, Mohamed Graham Ramsay numerical modelling ballasted railway track finite elements train moving load Recent congestion of highways in many countries around the world has led railways to become the most popular means of public transportation, which increased the demand for heavier and faster trains. This requires an investigation into the impact of various design parameters affecting the overall railway track performance. Such an investigation is very important for railway geotechnical engineers to arrive at an optimum plan for track design and maintenance. In this paper, a sophisticated three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) modelling is developed to investigate the dynamic response of ballasted railway track subjected to train moving loads. All components of the ballasted railway track system are represented including the rail, sleepers, ballast, sub-ballast and subgrade. The viscous quiet boundaries are used to represent infinite boundary conditions so as to absorb the train induced vibration waves at the boundaries. The FE modelling is validated using field measurement data. A detailed parametric study is carried out to investigate the effects of train speed, and modulus and thickness of ballast, sub-ballast and subgrade on track performance. The track response in terms of rail displacement, ballast, subballast and subgrade surface vertical stresses, surface subgrade strain and track stiffness are presented and their practical implications in relation to track design are discussed. 2015 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30478 New Zealand Geotechnical Society restricted
spellingShingle numerical modelling
ballasted railway track
finite elements
train moving load
Abu Sayeed, M.
Shahin, Mohamed
Modelling of ballasted railway track foundations under train moving loads
title Modelling of ballasted railway track foundations under train moving loads
title_full Modelling of ballasted railway track foundations under train moving loads
title_fullStr Modelling of ballasted railway track foundations under train moving loads
title_full_unstemmed Modelling of ballasted railway track foundations under train moving loads
title_short Modelling of ballasted railway track foundations under train moving loads
title_sort modelling of ballasted railway track foundations under train moving loads
topic numerical modelling
ballasted railway track
finite elements
train moving load
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/30478