Citation

Xiao X, Ling L, Jin X. Veh. Syst. Dyn. 2012; 50(3): 449-470.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/00423114.2011.597508

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In order to investigate the mechanism of derailment of high-speed trains due to an earthquake, a coupled vehicle/track dynamic model considering the earthquake effect is developed. The vehicle is modelled as a multi-body system of 35 degrees of freedom and the nonlinear suspension characteristic is considered. The slab track model considers the deformable rails, the discrete support of fasteners and the deformable slabs. Rails are assumed to be Timoshenko beams supported by the rail fasteners discretely, and the slabs are modelled with solid finite elements. The coupling of the vehicle and the track considers the track moving with respect to the vehicle running at a constant speed, and such a coupling model can simulate the effect of the periodical discrete rail supports on the vehicle/track interaction. The least-square curve fitting (LSCF) approach is introduced to integrate the originally recorded earthquake acceleration to acquire the velocity and displacement-time series of the earthquake. The system motion equations are solved by means of an explicit integration method in the time domain. The present paper analyses in detail the effect of the earthquake characteristic on dynamical behaviour of the vehicle and the track and the transient derailment criteria. The considered derailment criteria include the ratio of the wheel/rail lateral force to the vertical force, the wheel loading reduction, and the wheel/rail contact point traces on the wheel tread and the wheel rise with respect to the rail top, respectively. The present investigation includes the effect of lateral earthquake motion, vertical earthquake motion, operation speed, and their combined effect on the existing derailment criteria, respectively.