An approach for the tridimensional numerical modelling of the long-term behaviour of railway tracks considering the dynamic train-track interaction
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14195/2184-8394_155_6Keywords:
railway track, permanent deformation, non-linear resilient behaviour, numerical modellingAbstract
The complexity of the railway track system, in terms of its structural and material behaviour variability throughout its life cycle, has been an obstacle to the establishment of robust methods to predict its long-term behaviour. This work presents a computational implementation that incorporates some features for a more realistic reproduction of this behaviour, compared to other existing approaches. To demonstrate the potential of this tool, plain track scenarios are analysed, having introduced, in some of them, a sleeper without support in the ballast layer (“hanging sleeper”), to analyse the impact of this anomaly on the performance of the track under the application of millions of load cycles, regarding different vehicles. This approach allowed to evaluate the interdependence between dynamic effects, such as the wheel-rail interaction, and long-term effects, such as the evolution of stress trajectories within the ballast layer, evidencing a feedback loop between these two processes.
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