Prediction of Ground-Borne Vibration Generated at Railway Crossings Using a Hybrid Model

Abstract

Railway crossings are an important source of localized ground vibration. Models are required for identifying ways to tackle unacceptable levels of vibration from existing as well as future railway lines. Yet, the use of a prediction model that directly allows for the non-Hertzian wheel-rail contact dynamics and also includes three dimensional calculations of the ground response would be computationally expensive. In order to reduce the computational cost without affecting the accuracy of the predictions, a hybrid approach is proposed for the prediction of ground-borne vibration due to impacts at railway crossings. The approach combines the simulation of the vertical wheel-rail contact force in the time domain and the prediction of ground vibration levels in the far field using a linear wavenumber-frequency-domain approach. The proposed hybrid approach is used to investigate the influence of different vehicle speeds, crossing designs and wheel profiles on predicted ground vibration levels in the free field.