Authors : Melaku Sisay Abebe and Hongsheng Qiu
Abstract: The impact of dynamic loading on ballasted railway track has become an important issue due to increased demand for high-speed freight and public transport and because it leads to progressive deterioration and settlement of railway. In this study, the LS-DYNA computer code is used to conduct finite element calculations for the dynamic analysis of a high-speed train running on ballasted railway track. The rails are modelled as beams of a plastic kinematic material and the ballast and sub-ballast structure are modelled using rectangular prisms of an elastic material. The elastic beams representing the sleepers are placed 0.6 m apart.The load of a high-speed train is applied using a simplified finite element model. The commands RAIL_TRACK and RAIL_TRAIN LS_DYNA are applied to simulate the train’s interaction with the track. The CONTACT_SINGEL_SURFACE and CONTACT_SURAFCE_SURFCE commands which have not been applied in previous research are used to model the contact between connected parts. The results indicate that the LS-DYNA program can be used to model a high-speed train running on ballasted railway track and to calculate stress-strain, deformation and contact forces as well as sliding energy which are crucial for in railway track maintenance and in designing new ballasted railway track.
Melaku Sisay Abebe and Hongsheng Qiu, 2016. Finite Element Dynamic Analysis of a High-Speed Train on Ballasted Track. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 11: 303-310.