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Analysis of the structural behavior of the Railway Ballasted Track Using Finite Element Analysis (FEA)

Volume Title: ICASGE2025
Paper ID : 1050-ICASGE-FULL (R1)
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Abstract
Analysis of the structural behavior of the railway track elements can be used to design track elements and develop efficient maintenance program for the track itself. One of the most modern methods to analyze the structural behavior of a railway track is the Finite Element Method (FEM). This research aims to analyze the structural behavior of the ballasted track elements, as well as to develop proposed models to design railway ballasted track systems. To achieve this goal, the ballasted track has been modelled using the Finite Element software MIDAS GTS-NX. This modelling consists of seven stages; namely, choice of modelling techniques and FEM software, creating of the geometric track section, definition of material and meshing system, loading system and constraints, application on ballasted track, displaying and analysis the results, and finally, validation of the proposed models. The results indicate two new proposed models for single soil layer ballasted track and for stratified soil layers ballasted track. These models describe the relationship between rail deflection, maximum axle load, subgrade soil modulus of elasticity, the stratified soil coefficient, the single soil layer coefficient, and the depth of the replacement layer. The validation of the proposed models has been done using the numerical Zimmermann model, and a laboratory validation model. The R2 value for the Zimmermann validation model and the proposed mode; is found to be about 92.98 %, while the results of the proposed model match the results of the laboratory validation model by about 95 %.
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