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Analysis of Dynamic Response of Ballasted Rail Track Under a Moving Load to Determine the Critical Speed of Motion

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Abstract

Purpose

The critical speed of a railway track is the speed at which the vibration occurs at the largest magnitude. Thus, its identification is necessary to prevent derailments and damage to the rail tracks. The present study attempted a three-dimensional finite element analysis of a typical ballasted rail track under a single moving wheel load at different speeds to evaluate the critical speed.

Methods

The track’s ballast, subballast, and subgrade layers (substructure) were modeled as elastoplastic material with material damping and radiation damping (infinite layers). Track response was recorded in the form of stress, displacement, velocity, and acceleration responses to identify the critical speed of the rail track. Different parameters were analyzed to find the critical speed, such as the method of applying moving load, the material model of the primary load-carrying layer (ballast), the effect of boundaries, and the type of data extracted from the output databases. Parametric studies were performed on material damping and stiffness of track substructure layers to see their effect on the track’s dynamic response. The effect of shear strength parameters (cohesion and friction) of the subgrade was also analyzed to examine their effect on the critical speed of the rail track.

Results and Conclusions

The study shows that the combination of vertical velocity, stress, and acceleration trends can be used to identify the critical speed of the rail track. Young’s moduli of substructure do not show direct proportionality with the critical speed. The damping ratio has a small but noticeable effect on the critical speed, while the increase in shear strength of the subgrade increases the critical speed. A phase-lag was observed as the speed transitions from subcritical to supercritical. The critical speed from the finite element analysis shows a good agreement with the shear and Rayleigh wave velocities calculated from empirical approximations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank IIT Delhi High Performance Computing (HPC) facility for generously providing necessary computational resources.

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The author(s) received no financial support for the research,authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, 110016, India

    Pranjal Mandhaniya & J. T. Shahu

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, 208016, India

    Sarvesh Chandra

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  1. Pranjal Mandhaniya
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  2. J. T. Shahu
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Correspondence to Pranjal Mandhaniya.

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Mandhaniya, P., Shahu, J.T. & Chandra, S. Analysis of Dynamic Response of Ballasted Rail Track Under a Moving Load to Determine the Critical Speed of Motion. J. Vib. Eng. Technol. 11, 3197–3213 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42417-022-00741-3

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