Effect of sand-fouled ballast on train-induced vibration

Abstract

One of the most important issues in desert areas is ballast layer solidification due to windy sand accumulation. This phenomenon increases track modulus which leads to serious damage in railway track components. On the other hand, one of the side effects of this problem is the increase in ground-borne vibration during train passing. Therefore, this research is devoted to the investigating effect of sand-fouled ballast on train-induced vibration by means of experimental and numerical methods. For this purpose, five sections of ballasted railway track in central desert of Iran were monitored for 6 months, and many field measurements were conducted for obtaining track stiffness and ballast fouling percentage. Then, the field measured track stiffness values were implemented in finite element model, and the environmental vibrations due to train passing were assessed in the form of acceleration and displacement time histories for adjacent points of the railway track. The results indicated that, due to the increase in ballast fouling percentage from 0 to 62.7%, maximum acceleration increased by approximately 43% and maximum displacement decreased by approximately 68%.