Non-smooth contact dynamic approach for railway engineering: investigation of ballast behaviour under stabilisation process

Railway maintenance procedures include the stabilisation of ballasted tracks. The procedure of dynamic stabilisation which consists in vibrating laterally the rail while applying a vertical load is analysed using a discrete element code based on non-smooth contact dynamics. The ballast stones are modelled realistically using polyhedrons based on real ballast stones scans. The evolution of the compaction level and contact number between particles is analysed during the dynamic stabilisation process. A model is proposed to predict settlement. The results of simulation show the effectiveness of this maintenance procedure. It also points out the relevance of the model to predict settlement

Non-smooth contact dynamic approach for railway engineering: investigation of ballast behaviour under stabilisation process

Railway maintenance procedures include the stabilisation of ballasted tracks. The procedure of dynamic stabilisation which consists in vibrating laterally the rail while applying a vertical load is analysed using a discrete element code based on non-smooth contact dynamics. The ballast stones are modelled realistically using polyhedrons based on real ballast stones scans. The evolution of the compaction level and contact number between particles is analysed during the dynamic stabilisation process. A model is proposed to predict settlement. The results of simulation show the effectiveness of this maintenance procedure. It also points out the relevance of the model to predict settlement