Analysis of Effect Parameters of Track Settlement in Heavy Haul Railways

Abstract

Ballast bed in heavy haul railway will accumulate residual deformation and lead to track accumulative settlement under the repeatedly influence of the dynamic load of train. Studying on rule LU Ye s of track settlement of heavy haul railway is the premise of variant design and maintenance management, the effects of transportation conditions and track structure parameters on ballast settlement were analyzed by improving the existing track settlement calculation model and building track structural finite element analysis model. The results show that vehicle running speed, axle load and railway traffic are main factors of controlling track deformation; it benefits to decrease track settlement by adopting heavy rail, increasing bottom area of sleeper, reducing space of sleeper; track settlement reduces by 12.3% when thickness of ballast increases from 30 cm to 40 cm, and track settlement increases by 25% when elastic modulus of ballast increases from 90 MPa to 150 MPa, however, increasing thickness of ballast leads to more maintenance work and small elastic modulus reduces the capacity of structure, therefore, it is important to select track structural parameters reasonably.