A Finite Element Model of Railway Track and its Application to the Wheel Flat Problem

To study the dynamic interactions between the railway vehicle and track, a finite element model of infinitely long track is developed. The track is represented by a Timoshenko beam on discrete pad-tie-ballast supports. The non-linear factors such as loss of wheel-rail contact, rail lift-off from the tie and tie lift-off from the ballast are taken into account. A multi-point wheel-rail contact model is also proposed. The dynamic forces on the track and the strains on the rail are directly calculated from the model. The vehicle could travel on the track forever with an arbitrary time-dependent speed. The steady-state response of a vehicle-track system for a perfect wheel carrying a constant load and travelling at a constant speed over a track with no irregularities is studied using the finite element model and is presented. The impact loads due to wheel flats are also studied with this model. The results show a good correlation with the experimental data available in the literature. Influences of system parameters on the impact loads due to a wheel flat are also investigated. T***he results show that the axle load and vehicle speed are the important factors affecting the wheel-rail impact loads. The impact forces transferred from the rail to the tie are strongly affected by the pad stiffness and tie mass.