Behavior Of Railway Ballast Research Articles

Influence of 3D particle shape on the mechanical behaviour through a novel characterization method

The sensitivity of the mechanical behaviour of railway ballast to particle shape variation is studied through Discrete Element Method (DEM) numerical simulations, focusing on some basic parameters such as solid fraction, coordination number, or force distribution. We present an innovative method to characterize 3D particle shape using Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) of scanned ballast grains with a high accuracy. The method enables not only shape characterization but also the generation of 3D distinct and angular shapes. Algorithms are designed for face and edge recognition.

Study Behavior of Railway Ballast under Cyclic Loading

Densification and settlement are two important behavior parameters of railway ballast under cyclic loading. This paper presents numerical simulation using discrete element method which studies the evolution of densification of railway ballast in specified region under cyclic loading. The simulation results show that with the increase of cyclic loading time, the densification of railway ballast under sleeper is also increasing, and the rate of increase becomes smaller and smaller. This paper presents a new full-scale complete railway track loading experimental facility which studies the evolution of settlement of ballasted railway track under cyclic loading. The experimental results show that with the increase of number of load cycles, the settlement of ballasted railway track is also increasing, and the rate of increase becomes smaller and smaller.