THE INFLUENCE OF TRACK STIFFNESS ON TRACK DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

Large dynamic forces act between wheel and rail due to rail surface irregularities at rail welds, wheel flats and others. The authors established a track dynamic model to understand track dynamic behavior for the design of track and vehicle components. In the track dynamic model, rail is considered to have a distributed mass and to be supported discretely at sleepers above ballast divided into three layers, which can cover the dynamic track and vehicle behavior in the high frequency range. This paper describes the influence of track stiffness on track dynamic behavior caused by high speed trains running on track irregularities.