Dynamic Response of Floating Slab Track with Variation on Failure Position of Steel Spring

Abstract

The steel spring floating slab track is widely adopted for its remarkable performance on vibration isolation. With the increase of the operation time of floating slab track, the damage or failure of the steel spring is inevitable, which will have a bad effect on the track dynamics and vibration-mitigating effects. The steel spring’s forces were calculated by the vertical coupled dynamics model for the metro and the floating slab track. The dynamic response of tunnel and soil subjected to the steel spring’s forces was analyzed. The influence of steel spring failure position of floating slab track on the dynamic response of infrastructure was investigated. The results showed that the failure position had a significant effect on the dynamic characteristics. Although the infrastructure displacement varies little with the failure position, the reaction forces of the steel springs and acceleration of the track, the tunnel, and the soil notably increased when the steel spring failed at the end of the track. The tunnel acceleration with one pair of damaged springs at the end of track is 40% greater than that with the same failure springs in the middle of track.KeywordsFloating slab trackSteel springDynamic responseFailure position