Mechanism of cross-level settlements and void accumulation of wide and conventional sleepers in railway ballast  

作　　者：Olga Nabochenko Mykola Sysyn Norman Krumnow Szabolcs Fischer 

机构地区：[1]Institute of Railway Systems and Public Transport,Technical University of Dresden,Dresden,Germany [2]Rhomberg Sersa Deutschland GmbH,Berlin,Germany [3]Central Campus Győr,Széchenyi István University,Gyor,Hungary

出　　处：《Railway Engineering Science》2024年第3期361-383,共23页铁道工程科学（英文版）

摘　　要：The cross-level and twist irregularities are the most dangerous irregularity types that could cause wheel unloading with the risk of derailments and additional maintenance expenses.However,the mechanism of the irregularities initiation and development is unclear.The motivation of the present study was the previous experimental studies on the application of wide sleepers in the ballasted track.The long-term track geometry measurements with wide sleepers show an enormous reduction of the vertical longitudinal irregularities compared to the conventional track.However,wide sleepers had higher twist and cross-section level irregularities.The present paper aims to explain the phenomenon by discrete element method(DEM)modeling the development process of sleeper inhomogeneous support at cross-level depending on the sleeper form.The DEM simulations show that the maximal settlement intensity is up to 3.5 times lower for a wide sleeper in comparison with the conventional one.Nevertheless,the cross-level differential settlements are almost the same for both sleepers.The particle loading distribution after all loading cycles is concentrated on the smaller area,up to the half sleeper length,with fully unloaded zones under sleeper ends.Ballast flow limitation under the central part of the sleeper could improve the resilience of wide sleepers to the development of cross-level irregularities.The mechanism of initiation of the cross-level irregularity is proposed,which assumes the loss of sleeper support under sleeper ends.The further growth of inhomogeneous settlements along the sleeper is assumed as a result of the interaction of two processes:ballast flow due to dynamic impact during void closing and on the other side high pressure due to the concentration of the pressure under the middle part of the sleeper.The DEM simulation results support the assumption of the mechanism and agree with the experimental studies.

关 键 词：Wide sleeper Ballasted track Sleeper support inhomogeneity Sleeper foot form Discrete element modeling Void accumulation 

分 类 号：U213.32[交通运输工程—道路与铁道工程]