Surrogate modelling of railway pantograph-catenary interaction using deep Long-Short-Term-Memory neural networks

The interaction performance of the pantograph-catenary is of great importance as it directly determines the current collection quality and operational safety of trains. The finite element method (FEM) is dominantly used for simulating pantograph-catenary interaction, which is normally computationally heavy. In this work, addressing the...

An explicit coupled MPM formulation to simulate penetration problems in soils using quadrilateral elements

This paper describes an MPM formulation using linear quadrilateral elements suitable for soil-structure-interaction problems. The volumetric locking and stress-oscillations are mitigated using a reduced integration technique and the Gauss integration scheme, respectively. The formulation can be used with both structured and unstructured...

Structural analysis and parametric study ballasted track in sandy regions

The sand intrusion in railway tracks in sandy regions can significantly change the mechanical behaviour of tracks and thus threaten the safety of train operation. This paper presents substantial field tests on both sandy and clean railway tracks to study the effect of sand intrusion on the longitudinal resistance of ballast bed and the...

Experimental study and discrete element analysis on lateral resistance of windblown sand railway

The lateral resistance of ballast bed is an important parameter to prevent track expansion and maintain track stability. The invasion of sand particles can cause the change of lateral resistance of ballast bed and affect the stability of track structure, but little attention has been paid to the change characteristics of nonlinear lateral...

The influence of contact force on forensic trace collection efficiency when sampling textiles with adhesive tape

Purpose: DNA is a highly valuable lead to identify people who were possibly involved in a crime. Even by small contact events, minute amounts of DNA (‘trace DNA’) can be transferred from a DNA source to an evidentiary item, which can be enough for a successful DNA analysis. The focus of this research is to get more insight in the collection...