Viscoelastic Rheological Modelling of the Lateral Dynamic Response of Ballasted Railway Tracks

Abstract This article presents a novel methodology for evaluating the response of ballasted railway tracks under train-induced loading along lateral directions. The main focus of this study is the development of a computational technique that can capture the lateral response of ballasted railway tracks, which has been ignored in past studies. The proposed approach employs a viscoelastic rheological track model in which three substructure layers are simulated using discrete masses, Hooke’s (springs) and Newtonian elements (dampers). The methodology is successfully validated against the data from experimental and analytical investigations published in the literature. Subsequently, parametric investigations are conducted to study the influence of axle load, train speed, and granular layer thickness on the track response. The results indicate that as the axle load (20 to 40 t) and train speed (70 to 200 km/h) are increased, there is a corresponding increase in track displacements (both lateral and vertical) by 100% and 26.2%, respectively. However, an increase in the granular layer thickness (0.1 to 0.75 m) reduces ballast top displacement (lateral and vertical) by 20–30%. The results demonstrate the capability of the proposed computational approach to capture the transient response of railway tracks and the influence of neighbouring layer properties on the track response. The proposed methodology can be helpful to practising railway engineers for assessing the performance of ballasted railway tracks along lateral directions.