Numerical investigation on effect of the relative motion of stock/switch rails on the load transfer distribution along the switch panel in high-speed railway turnout

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn railway turnout, the stock rail and switch rail are separated to enable the vehicle changing among the tracks, and they are provided with different rail resilience level on the baseplate. Therefore, there will be vertical relative motion between stock/switch rails under the wheel loads, and the relative motion will affect consequentially the wheel–rail contact conditions. A method is developed to investigate the effect of the relative motion of stock/switch rails on the load transfer distribution along the switch panel in high-speed railway turnout. First, the rigid wheel–rail contact points of stock/switch rails are calculated based on the trace line method, and then the contact status is determined by the presented equations, finally, the distribution of wheel–rail contact forces of stock/switch rails is obtained based on the continuity of interface displacements and forces which using an approximate surface deformation method. Some parametric studies have been performed, such as the lateral displacement of wheel set, the vertical contact forces, the wheel profiles and the vertical stiffness of rail pad. The results of the parametric study are presented and discussed.