Long-term freeze–thaw cycle behavior of high-speed railway embankment in frozen soil regions and its effects on train-track dynamic interaction system

Abstract

The high-speed railway embankment built in cold regions has a long-term freeze–thaw cycle behavior, and the frost heave of soil will inevitably affect the smoothness of the track structure laid on the embankment, resulting in the deterioration of the train running performance and the dynamic behavior of the ballastless track system. This work is motivated by the research to investigate the long-term freeze–thaw behavior of the embankment in frozen soil regions and its effects on the train-track dynamic interaction system. Based on this motivation, the temperature-deformation field model of the embankment and the train-track dynamic interaction model (TTDIM) are established as an integrated model. The additional track irregularity triggered by the frost heave deformation of the embankment is regarded as the excitation source in the TTDIM to achieve the co-analysis of two sub-models. Through an illustrative example, the evolution characteristics of the freeze–thaw cycle behavior of embankment is fully revealed. Moreover, the effects of time-varying frost heave deformation of embankment on the performance of train-track interaction are quantified from the aspect of representative responses and safety evaluation indexes. This paper provides a valuable model and research thought reference for the analysis and assessment of the performance of train-track interaction under the long-term freeze–thaw cycles of the embankment in frozen soil regions.