Development of advanced track models for high speed rail operations

Modern society demands and environmental factors are putting pressure in the development of new high speed rail networks or on the upgrade of conventional tracks to allow a significant increase in operational speeds and/or load capacity. Such requirements raise scientific and technological research challenges that need to be addressed, which include the improvement of numerical tools and experimental techniques to support the design solutions. The dynamic analysis of railway systems involves multidisciplinary problems for which the most recent computer codes for rail applications only allow the study of a particular phenomenon at a time, each with its own mathematical model. By analysing such phenomena independently, it is not possible to capture all the dynamics of the complete railway system and the relevant coupling effects. The main goal of this work is to develop detailed and reliable three-dimensional track models for railway applications, which include the flexibility of the rails and of the substructure. The vehicle and track models are integrated in a common and numerically efficient tool and the developed methodologies are analysed in several operation conditions. The flexible track models are validated by performing laboratory and experimental tests in realistic scenarios and in close collaboration with the industry. The results are analysed giving special emphasis to the impact of train operations on the infrastructure and, conversely, the damages on vehicles provoked by the track conditions. These topics have a significant economic impact on the vehicles maintenance and also affect the life cycle costs of tracks. Therefore, the work developed here aims to support the development of solutions with technological relevance giving answer to the industry’s most recent needs and contributing to improve the competitiveness of the railway transport.