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2D ballast particle contour generation based on the random midpoint displacement algorithm

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Abstract

Ballast particles are an important part of the railway ballast bed. Ballast particles with irregular shapes and strong randomness are not only of significance for ensuring track stability, but also provide good elasticity to absorb the impact and vibration of wheel–rail interaction. However, it is obviously unrealistic to import the contour of every real ballast particle when using the discrete element method (DEM) simulation. Therefore, this paper developed a new algorithm, the random midpoint displacement method (RMDM), for the fast reconstruction and random generation of 2D ballast particle contour. Seven morphological parameters are proposed to describe the surface characteristics of ballast particles based on the analysis of the contour samples of three typical ballast particles using MATLAB. This method was verified by comparison with the real ballast particle based on particle morphology analysis and DEM simulation. The results show that the reconstructed ballast contour by RMDM is consistent with the field ballast contours in the view of the fractal dimensions and has an improvement in the view of the computational efficiency.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the project support extended by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2018YJS117) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51978045).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China

    Yang Wang, Hong Xiao & Zhihai Zhang

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Track Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China

    Yang Wang, Hong Xiao & Zhihai Zhang

  3. Railway Engineering Research Institute, China Academy of Railway Sciences Corporation Limited, Beijing, 100081, China

    Xing Ling

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, KLS Gogte Institute of Technology, Belagavi, 590008, India

    Mahantesh M. Nadakatti

  5. Beijing Subway Operation Co, Ltd, Beijing, 100044, China

    Shuwei Fang

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  1. Yang Wang
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Correspondence to Hong Xiao.

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Wang, Y., Xiao, H., Ling, X. et al. 2D ballast particle contour generation based on the random midpoint displacement algorithm. Comp. Part. Mech. 10, 729–745 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-022-00526-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-022-00526-1

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