The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

A Model for Evaluating Long-Term Support Degradation at Railway Switches

A Model for Evaluating Long-Term Support Degradation at Railway Switches
A Model for Evaluating Long-Term Support Degradation at Railway Switches

A railway switch is characterised by movable parts, discontinuities in rail geometry and non-uniformities in trackbed stiffness. This work aims to assess the performance of railway switches considering long-term degradation of trackbed support with trafficking. A vehicle-track interaction model capable of reproducing the longitudinal variation in support stiffness and changes in contact condition through the switch panel is used. Site measurements of bearer deflection at a selected S&C are used to back-calculate a trackbed stiffness and initialise dynamic simulations to determine wheel-rail and trackbed contact forces. The calculated trackbed forces are used as an input in an iterative process to estimate the evolution of long-term rail top level and irregularity growth. The model results are compared with measured rail irregularity growth and the model is shown to predict similar trends. Model results and measurements show that higher rates of track geometry degradation occur around the load transfer area. The use of Under Sleeper Pads is found to decrease differential settlement within the panel.

Settlement, Sleeper deflections, Switch panel, Top level measurements, Trackbed stiffness, TRC, USPs, Vehicle-track interaction, Wheel-rail contact
2195-4356
382-389
Springer
Grossoni, Ilaria
d6a76c4a-442e-4272-81bc-5374bee4de86
Bezin, Yann
65a989a7-bfce-42aa-be47-0fc19baef291
Le Pen, Louis
4a38e256-d113-4bba-b0d4-32d41995928a
Watson, Geoff
a7b86a0a-9a2c-44d2-99ed-a6c02b2a356d
Kostovasilis, Dimitrios
ea6c3649-99fa-41a7-98bc-2f6ad875b050
Klomp, Matthijs
Bruzelius, Fredrik
Nielsen, Jens
Hillemyr, Angela
Grossoni, Ilaria
d6a76c4a-442e-4272-81bc-5374bee4de86
Bezin, Yann
65a989a7-bfce-42aa-be47-0fc19baef291
Le Pen, Louis
4a38e256-d113-4bba-b0d4-32d41995928a
Watson, Geoff
a7b86a0a-9a2c-44d2-99ed-a6c02b2a356d
Kostovasilis, Dimitrios
ea6c3649-99fa-41a7-98bc-2f6ad875b050
Klomp, Matthijs
Bruzelius, Fredrik
Nielsen, Jens
Hillemyr, Angela

Grossoni, Ilaria, Bezin, Yann, Le Pen, Louis, Watson, Geoff and Kostovasilis, Dimitrios (2020) A Model for Evaluating Long-Term Support Degradation at Railway Switches. Klomp, Matthijs, Bruzelius, Fredrik, Nielsen, Jens and Hillemyr, Angela (eds.) In Advances in Dynamics of Vehicles on Roads and Tracks : Proceedings of the 26th Symposium of the International Association of Vehicle System Dynamics, IAVSD 2019. Springer. pp. 382-389 . (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-38077-9_45).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

A railway switch is characterised by movable parts, discontinuities in rail geometry and non-uniformities in trackbed stiffness. This work aims to assess the performance of railway switches considering long-term degradation of trackbed support with trafficking. A vehicle-track interaction model capable of reproducing the longitudinal variation in support stiffness and changes in contact condition through the switch panel is used. Site measurements of bearer deflection at a selected S&C are used to back-calculate a trackbed stiffness and initialise dynamic simulations to determine wheel-rail and trackbed contact forces. The calculated trackbed forces are used as an input in an iterative process to estimate the evolution of long-term rail top level and irregularity growth. The model results are compared with measured rail irregularity growth and the model is shown to predict similar trends. Model results and measurements show that higher rates of track geometry degradation occur around the load transfer area. The use of Under Sleeper Pads is found to decrease differential settlement within the panel.

This record has no associated files available for download.

More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 13 February 2020
Additional Information: Copyright: © 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Venue - Dates: 26th Symposium of the International Association of Vehicle System Dynamics, IAVSD 2019, , Gothenburg, Sweden, 2019-08-12 - 2019-08-16
Keywords: Settlement, Sleeper deflections, Switch panel, Top level measurements, Trackbed stiffness, TRC, USPs, Vehicle-track interaction, Wheel-rail contact

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 458038
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/458038
ISSN: 2195-4356
PURE UUID: 78b36e98-49cb-4f31-84d7-90388a616e8a
ORCID for Louis Le Pen: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4362-3895
ORCID for Geoff Watson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3074-5196

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 27 Jun 2022 16:57
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:02

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Ilaria Grossoni
Author: Yann Bezin
Author: Louis Le Pen ORCID iD
Author: Geoff Watson ORCID iD
Author: Dimitrios Kostovasilis
Editor: Matthijs Klomp
Editor: Fredrik Bruzelius
Editor: Jens Nielsen
Editor: Angela Hillemyr

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×