A Simple and Efficient Numerical Method for Dynamic Interaction Analysis of a High-Speed Train and Railway Structure During an Earthquake

Abstract

In this paper, a simple and efficient numerical method to solve for the dynamic interaction of a high-speed train and railway structure during an earthquake is given. The motion of the train is modeled in multibody dynamics with nonlinear springs and dampers used to connect components. An efficient mechanical model for contact dynamics between the wheel and rail during an earthquake is presented. The railway structure is modeled with various finite elements. A nonlinear spring element based on a trilinear elastic-plastic material model is given for the concrete railway structure during an earthquake. A substructure model where a train runs repeatedly has been devised to obtain an approximated combined motion of the long train with many cars connected and the railway structure during an earthquake. A modal method has been developed to solve large-scale nonlinear equations of motion of the train and railway structure effectively. Based on the present method, a computer program DIASTARS for the dynamic interaction analysis of a Shinkansen train (high-speed train in Japan) and the railway structure during an earthquake has been developed. Numerical examples are demonstrated.

Wheel–rail contact formulation for analyzing the lateral train–structure dynamic interaction

“…This test consists of a railway vehicle mounted over four wheel-shaped rails that can be controlled independently in order to simulate different types of rail deviations. The results obtained with the proposed formulation are compared with the experimental results, and also with the results obtained using the software DIASTARS developed by Tanabe et al [7].…”

“…Since the contact point search is restricted to only one plane, the yaw angle contribution is neglected in the geometrical problem [5,[7][8]. Thus, the transformation from the target element coordinate system to the wheel profile coordinate system can be written as …”

“…In the first approach, called offline contact search [5][6][7], an analysis of the geometry of the surfaces is previously performed, being the location of the contact points precalculated as a function of the relative lateral displacement between the vehicle and structure and stored in a lookup table to be later interpolated during the dynamic analysis. This approach is computationally attractive but does not account for the penetration between the wheel and rail, which may have a significant influence.…”

A direct method for analyzing the nonlinear vehicle–structure interaction

“…In a significant number of studies available in the literature about the vehicle-structure interaction, the structure and vehicles are modeled as rigid multibody systems [1,2]. Other authors, such as Antolín et al [3] and Tanabe et al [4], proposed formulations that additionally take into account the deformation of the structure. Neves et al [5] modeled the vehicles and structure using finite elements, thus considering the deformation of both systems.…”

A Nonlinear Vehicle Structure Interaction Methodology With Wheel Rail Detachment and Reattachment

“…Tanabe et al [9] developed a train-structure interaction software, DIASTARS, in which the train is modeled as a multibody system, while the bridge is modeled with finite elements to take the structure flexibility into account. This methodology divides the wheel-rail contact in two modes, one vertical and one lateral, that are simulated with nonlinear contact springs to represent the wheel-rail contact stiffness.…”