Title: On dynamics of a railway track modelled as a two dimensional periodic structure

Authors: Tomasz Krzyzynski

Addresses: Koszalin University of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Raclawicka 15/17, PL-75-620 Koszalin, Poland

Abstract: The paper deals with the vertical dynamics of a railway track. In the system under consideration a single rail is modelled as a Timoshenko beam. The rails are coupled by means of a number of periodically spaced sleepers which are modelled as rigid bodies with two degrees-of-freedom. Assuming longitudinal symmetry of the track and load leads to a one dimensional system model. Allowing any other form of the load requires analysis of a two-dimensional model which is studied in this paper. The case of a free wave propagation is investigated in detail. The method used consists in the direct application of Floquet|s theorem to a differential equation of motion of the beam. There are two forms of travelling wave propagation in the case of an unloaded two-dimensional periodic structure. The first form corresponds to the in-phase propagation of waves in the two rails. The second form represents the case of a half-wavelength phase difference between the propagating waves. The method of obtaining the solution for the system under moving harmonic forces is briefly discussed.

Keywords: analytical modelling; periodic structures; railway track dynamics; travelling loads; wave propagation; railways.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHVS.1999.054640

International Journal of Heavy Vehicle Systems, 1999 Vol.6 No.1/2/3/4, pp.330 - 344

Published online: 18 Jun 2013 *

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