High‐Speed Train‐Track‐Bridge Dynamic Interaction considering Wheel‐Rail Contact Nonlinearity due to Wheel Hollow Wear

Abstract

Wheel hollow wear is a common form of wheel‐surface damage in high‐speed trains, which is of great concern and a potential threat to the service performance and safety of the high‐speed railway system. At the same time, rail corridors in high‐speed railways are extensively straightened through the addition of bridges. However, only few studies paid attention to the influence of wheel‐profile wear on the train‐track‐bridge dynamic interaction. This paper reports a study of the high‐speed train‐track‐bridge dynamic interactions under new and hollow worn wheel profiles. A nonlinear rigid‐flexible coupled model of a Chinese high‐speed train travelling on nonballasted tracks supported by a long‐span continuous girder bridge is formulated. This modelling is based on the train‐track‐bridge interaction theory, the wheel‐rail nonelliptical multipoint contact theory, and the modified Craig–Bampton modal synthesis method. The effects of wheel‐rail nonlinearity caused by the wheel hollow wear are fully considered. The proposed model is applied to predict the vertical and lateral dynamic responses of the high‐speed train‐track‐bridge system under new and worn wheel profiles, in which a high‐speed train passing through a long‐span continuous girder bridge at a speed of 350 km/h is considered. The numerical results show that the wheel hollow wear changes the geometric parameters of the wheel‐rail contact and then deteriorates the train‐track‐bridge interactions. The worn wheels can increase the vibration response of the high‐speed railway bridges.