Dynamic Impact of a Rail Vehicle on a Rail Infrastructure with Particular Focus on the Phenomenon of Threshold Effect

Włodzimierz Idczak, Tomasz Lewandrowski, Dominik Pokropski, Tomasz Rudnicki and Jacek Trzmiel
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Włodzimierz Idczak: Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Military University of Technology, 2 Gen. Sylwestra Kaliskiego Str., 00-908 Warsaw, Poland
Tomasz Lewandrowski: Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Military University of Technology, 2 Gen. Sylwestra Kaliskiego Str., 00-908 Warsaw, Poland
Dominik Pokropski: Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Military University of Technology, 2 Gen. Sylwestra Kaliskiego Str., 00-908 Warsaw, Poland
Tomasz Rudnicki: Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Military University of Technology, 2 Gen. Sylwestra Kaliskiego Str., 00-908 Warsaw, Poland
Jacek Trzmiel: Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodesy, Military University of Technology, 2 Gen. Sylwestra Kaliskiego Str., 00-908 Warsaw, Poland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: The paper undertakes analysis of the dynamic impact of a rail vehicle on various types of a railway infrastructure with particular focus on the phenomenon of threshold effect within the transition zones of an engineering facility. The problem of locally variable stiffness of the railway infrastructure, which in turn could lead to the accelerated infrastructure degradation, is identified. Using the analytical and numerical background, the computational model is presented, based on which, it could be possible to determine the impact of the various rail support on the dynamic response of the entire infrastructure. The dynamic load, caused by the passage of the multiaxle rail vehicle, is taken into account in the paper. The fourth-order differential equation is solved by using the finite differences method with application of the numerical MATLAB script. The created numerical algorithm and a number of calculations allowed the formulation of several solutions that could reduce the dynamic impact of the rail vehicle on the railway surface within the transition zones. In the paper, theoretical results are compared to the field measurements conducted on a real dynamically loaded rail. Field experiments have been carried out on the railway track in operation. The vertical displacement of a rail, dynamically loaded by various types of rail vehicles passing by (both passenger and freight trains) has been investigated. Researches have been carried out in the area of transition zones of engineering facilities. Test points have been selected in places where there is a sudden change in parameters of the track structure (e.g., a change from concrete sleepers to wooden sleepers). Based on conducted researches it has been possible to validate results obtained from the numerical calculations.

Keywords: rail vehicle; rail infrastructure; threshold effect; dynamics; numerical simulations; testing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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