Dynamic response of high-speed railway vehicle and welded turnout on large-span bridges based on rigid-flexible coupling system

Abstract

Welded Turnout on Large-span Bridge (WTLB) is a complex multi-layer heterogeneous system and can significantly influence the service performance of High-Speed Railway (HSR). Understanding the coupling dynamic response of the vehicle and WTLB is essential. Previous research did not consider the dynamic behavior of foundations, leading to an underestimation of the vehicle-turnout-foundation coupling dynamic response, particularly when turnouts were laid on large-span bridges. This study proposes a novel modeling method that includes the foundations, to overcome the previous shortcomings by applying a rigid-flexible coupling system. In this approach, the vehicle was modeled as a rigid body sub-model in a Multi-Body Software (MBS), while WTLB was modeled as a flexible bodies sub-model using Finite Element (FE) software. The modal information from the FE model was imported into the MBS software. The two sub-models were coupled by the wheel-rail contact in the MBS environment and then the Vehicle-turnout-bridge Rigid-flexible Coupling Dynamic (VRCD) calculation model was established and it was discovered that the calculation results showed good agreement with the field test data. Through the VRCD model, the safety of the structure, the stability of the vehicle and the comfort of passengers were investigated, as well as several important infrastructure factors. The results demonstrate that this novel method provides accurate calculations and highlights the complex and significant interactions in the vehicle-turnout-bridge system.