Track modulus analysis of railway track system using finite element model

With the development of ever faster trains, the problem of excessive ground vibrations has increased. Dealing with ground vibration from surface and underground trains is a challenging issue for the railway industry. In the present work, the analysis of a typical Indian railway track system has been done with special emphasis on "track modulus" for Prestressed Concrete (PSC) sleepers and Wooden (WOOD) sleepers. The track consists of two rails of standard length, rail pads and sleepers with constant sleeper spacing, ballast and subgrade covering the length of the rails as per the Indian Railways standards. Finite Element models have been developed for computer simulation of the dynamic behaviour of the railway track system for 52PSC, 60PSC, 52WOOD and 60WOOD track. In this model, subgrade, ballast and rail pad parameters have been considered for parametric analysis of the track modulus. Finally the track system is excited harmonically over a range of frequencies to predict the dynamic variation in the track modulus. © 2010 SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore.