Prediction of railway-induced ground vibrations: The use of minimal coordinate method for vehicle modelling

Abstract

This paper examines the combination of finite element method and multibody modelling to simulate the generation and propagation of ground vibration in the vicinity of railway networks. Based on the assumption that the source of vibrations lies at the wheel/rail contact, a multibody model of the vehicle is built using minimal coordinates, which leads to a system of pure ordinary differential equations, without constraint equations. Track and foundation dynamic equations are coupled to the vehicle's equation of motion, using non-linear Hertzian theory. From these results, the ballast reaction on the subgrade is used in a second subproblem where free field ground response is computed using the finite element software ABAQUS.