A Survey of Railway Track Modelling
Sono Bhardawaj, Rakesh Chandmal Sharma, Sunil Kumar Sharma
Abstract
Railway vehicle is a complex system comprises of several components and has several degrees of freedom. The railway vehicle moves over the system called railway track which is consisted of different components i.e. rail, rail pad, sleeper, fastening elements, ballast, soil and subsoil etc. Modelling of the track is initiated in year 1860. Since then researchers have formulated different models of track components and track systems to analyse the vehicle behaviour, dynamic interaction at the wheel-rail interface and between the track components itself. This paper reviews the investigations carried out in last 50 years and provides a thorough understanding on dynamic behaviour of different track components.