SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF TRACK VIBRATIONS DUE TO VERTICAL STIFFNESS VARIATION IN...

• Author(s): Dimitrovová, Zuzana ; Varandas, José N. ; de Almeida, João R. ; Silva, Manuel G.A.
• Date: 2007
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/4349
• Origin: Repositório Institucional da UNL
• Subject(s): High-speed trains, Foundation stiffness abrupt changes, Dynamic analysis, Transient analysis, Methods of integral transformations
• Document Type: Conference Object
• Language: English

Description

High speed trains, when crossing regions with abrupt changes in vertical stiffness of the track and/or subsoil, may generate excessive ground and track vibrations. There is an urgent need for specific analyses of this problem so as to allow reliable esimates of vibration amplitude. Full understanding of these phenomena will lead to new construction solutions and mitigation of undesirable features. In this paper analytical transient solutions of dynamic response of one-dimensional systems with sudden change of foundation stiffness are derived. Results are expressed in terms of vertical displacement. Sensitivity analysis of the response amplitude is also performed. The analytical expressions presented herein, to the authors’ knowledge, have not been published yet. Although related to one-dimensional cases, they can give useful insight into the problem. Nevertheless, in order to obtain realistic response, vehicle- rail interaction cannot be omitted. Results and conclusions are confirmed using general purpose commercial software ANSYS. In conclusion, this work contributes to a better understanding of the additional vibration phenomenon due to vertical stiffness variation, permitting better control of the train velocity and optimization of the track design.