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Influence of interference of moving trains on the settlement and critical velocity of ballastless railway track

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Abstract

Ballastless railway track has been recently recognized as a feasible solution that increases stability of the railway track and also reduces the cost of maintenance. However, little attention has been paid in past studies to understand how this railway track responses to moving trains traveling at low and high velocity. In addition, there is no research that reports how the interference of two moving trains affects the settlement and critical velocity of the ballastless railway track. This paper utilizes a calibrated three-dimensional finite element model to investigate the settlement of a ballastless railway track subjected on one moving train and two adjacent moving trains. It was found that the settlement of the ballastless railway track remarkably affected by train speed, and thus, there is a critical velocity at which the maximum settlement occurs. In addition, it has been observed that the interference remarkably rises the settlement of the railway track, where the highest percentage increase is recorded at a distance between trains of 1.0 m, and it is equal to 68%. However, this percentage decreases as the distance between the two trains increases. In addition, the percentage increase of the settlement due to the interference is sensitive to the train velocity and is slightly influenced by the subgrade stiffness. On the other hand, the interference did not noticeably influence the critical velocity of the railway track. The findings of this paper emphasize on the importance of considering the interference of adjacent trains for a safe and robust design of ballastless railway tracks.

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No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Roads and Transport Engineering, University of Al-Qadisiyah, Al Diwaniyah, Iraq

    Saif Alzabeebee & Marwah Abbas Hadi

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Thammasat School of Engineering, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, 12120, Thailand

    Suraparb Keawsawasvong

Authors
  1. Saif Alzabeebee
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  2. Marwah Abbas Hadi
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  3. Suraparb Keawsawasvong
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Correspondence to Saif Alzabeebee.

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Alzabeebee, S., Hadi, M.A. & Keawsawasvong, S. Influence of interference of moving trains on the settlement and critical velocity of ballastless railway track. Innov. Infrastruct. Solut. 8, 13 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41062-022-00991-w

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