Vertical dynamic response of railroad track induced by high speed trains

The purpose of this investigation is to develop an understanding of how changes in vertical support of railroad track affect the rail dynamic profile and peak track deflection under a high speed moving train. In support of this objective, this research investigated the dynamic response of a beam on linear discrete vertical supports with nonuniform foundation properties that is being traversed by a constant mass. The discrete supports represent the crossties and the traveling mass represents the rolling railroad wheel. A custom finite element program utilizing a Newmark-Beta integration algorithm was implemented to solve the governing second order differential equations with time dependent coefficients induced by the traveling mass representation. The results of this work clarify the method and importance of incorporating a traveling mass into an FEA model when studying the motion of track under highspeed trains.