Indian railway track analysis for displacement and vibration pattern estimation

Abstract

This paper presents the dynamic response of the Indian Railway track. Two track models are considered for the dynamic response in terms of vertical displacement and acceleration at different wheel speeds, keeping the moving point load at constant magnitude. The rail is treated as a beam either on viscoelastic foundation or on the discrete elastic support system. The governing equation is implemented in finite element analysis using ANSYS 14.0. For the validation of result from system equation are compared with those available in published literature and the maximum deviation for displacement at the midpoint of rail is found to be within 5 %. Different wheel speed generates variation in displacement and acceleration of the rail track. The study can be viewed as the foundation for the comparison of FEA based simulation of rail track to specify its dynamic response useful to provide better safety and comfort to commuters.