Soil non-linearity on high speed railway lines

K. Dong, P. Alves Costa, O. Laghrouche, P. K. Woodward, D. P. Connolly

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Increases in operational train speed have resulted in an elevated probability that dynamic effects will occur inside the railway track and subgrade structure. This is problematic because it causes soil non-linearity, thus resulting in reduced soil stiffness. Therefore, this paper outlines a numerical semi-analytical frequency domain model to compute and analyse non-linear stiffness degradation below railway lines. An equivalent linear approach is used to incorporate non-linear stiffness and damping changes into a thin-layer element frequency-wavenumber domain formulation. The model is validated using published data and then used to analyse non-linearity. It is shown that non-linearity plays an important role in track-ground response, with track displacements increasing significantly in magnitude. It is also shown that the critical velocity can be reduced significantly, which is important because many high speed lines set their dynamic threshold at 70% of the linearly calculated value. Similar findings are made for track velocities and soil strain levels, thus indicating it is vital to consider soil non-linearity when modelling high speed rail track behaviour.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCOMPDYN 2019
Subtitle of host publication7th International Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering
EditorsManolis Papadrakakis, Michalis Fragiadakis
PublisherNational Technical University of Athens
Pages5535-5542
Number of pages8
Volume3
ISBN (Electronic)9786188284456
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Event7th International Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 2019 - Crete, Greece
Duration: 24 Jun 201926 Jun 2019

Publication series

NameCOMPDYN Proceedings
ISSN (Print)2623-3347

Conference

Conference7th International Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 2019
Abbreviated titleCOMPDYN 2019
Country/TerritoryGreece
CityCrete
Period24/06/1926/06/19

Keywords

  • Non-linear soil
  • Railway track dynamics
  • Thin-layer element method

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computers in Earth Sciences
  • Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology
  • Computational Mathematics
  • Civil and Structural Engineering

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