Auxiliary rails as a mitigation measure for degradation in transition zones

This paper studies the effectiveness of adding auxiliary rails as a mitigation measure for degradation in transition zones of railway tracks. More specifically, it investigates the settlement mechanisms counteracted by the additional rails. Results show that when the system’s response is in the quasi-static regime, adding auxiliary rails over...

Semi-analytical solution for the 3D response of a tunnel embedded in an elastic half-space subject to seismic waves

This paper presents a semi-analytical solution for the 3D problem of a cylindrical tunnel embedded in an elastic half-space subject to plane harmonic compressional and shear waves. Both the tunnel and soil are modelled as an elastic continuum. Conformal mapping is employed to transform the original physical domain with boundary surfaces of two...

Dynamic amplification in a periodic structure with a transition zone subject to a moving load: Three different phenomena

The study of periodic systems under the action of moving loads is of high practical importance in railway, road, and bridge engineering, among others. Even though plenty of studies focus on periodic systems, few of them are dedicated to the influence of a local inhomogeneous region, a so-called transition zone, on the dynamic response. In...

Modelling ballast via a non-linear lattice to assess its compaction behaviour at railway transition zones

Locations in railway tracks where significant variations of the track properties occur are subject to increased track deterioration. To successfully mitigate this, the mechanisms leading to the increased deterioration need to be understood. To this end, this work presents a non-linear constitutive law for a lattice model able to describe the...

Periodic structures with a transition zone: three amplification phenomena

Transition radiation in a nonlinear and infinite one-dimensional structure: a comparison of solution methods

Transition zones in railway tracks are locations with a significant variation of track properties (i.e. foundation stiffness) encountered near structures such as bridges and tunnels. Due to strong amplification of the track’s response, transition zones are prone to rapid degradation. To investigate the degradation mechanisms in transition...

Instability of vibrations of an oscillator moving at high speed through a tunnel embedded in soft soil

This paper investigates the instability of vertical vibrations of an object moving uniformly through a tunnel embedded in soft soil. Using the indirect Boundary Element Method in the frequency domain, the equivalent dynamic stiffness of the tunnel-soil system at the point of contact with the moving object, modelled as a mass-spring system or...

A lattice model for transition zones in ballasted railway tracks

The procedure presented in this work aims at providing a framework for studying settlement of ballast in zones with stiffness variation of the railway track support. The proposed procedure results from expanding an existing infinite periodic model of a railway track to account for variations in the stiffness of the foundation. Ballast is...

Transition radiation in an infinite beam discretely supported by nonlinear springs and dashpots

Transition radiation is emitted when a source moves along a straight line with constant velocity and acts on or near an inhomogeneous medium [1]. It occurs, for example, when trains cross areas with substantial variation of track properties (e.g., foundation stiffness) encountered near rigid structures such as bridges; these areas are called...

Dynamic response of an infinite beam periodically supported by sleepers resting on a regular and infinite lattice: Semi-analytical solution

In this work we propose a model for the analysis of the dynamic behaviour of a ballasted track that combines discrete and continuous elements. The rail is modelled via an Euler-Bernoulli beam, the periodically spaced sleepers are represented with lumped masses, and the ballast is simulated using a lattice (regular network of elastically...

Dynamic soil stiffness for foundation piles: Capturing 3D continuum effects in an effective, non-local 1D model

A method is presented to accurately capture the 3D interaction phenomena of a foundation pile embedded in soil, in a computationally efficient non-local 1D model. It is shown how to extract the global stiffness kernels from simulations with the 3D inhomogeneous continuum, and implement them in a 1D non-local Winkler-type model that can...

Semi-analytical solution for the dynamic response of a cylindrical structure embedded in a homogeneous half-space

This paper addresses the dynamic response of an infinitely long cylindrical structure embedded in an elastic half-space. The structure has a circular cross-section and its axis is parallel to the half-space surface. Excitation can be incident body waves or forces applied on the surface of the half-space and/or the structure. The model can be...