Dynamic behavior of a railway crossing: comparison of the results of multibody system dynamic and explicit FEM models

The paper presents the results model comparison of the multibody system (MBS) and explicit finite element (FEM) models for analysis of wheel-rail interaction in railway crossings. Both models are parts of an integrated (experimental and numerical) tool for analysis an improvement of performance of the railway crossings. The studied type of crossings, which is a part of a double crossover, is the casted manganese steel crossing with the angle of 1:9 (Figure 1a-b). This type of crossings, which are quite common on the Dutch railway network, suffer very much from severe plastic deformation and cracks leading to the spalling damage or even to sudden fracture of the crossing nose (Figure 1c). These crossing are mainly passed in the main (facing or trailing) direction with relatively high speeds (140 km/h). The service life of such crossings in the Netherlands has become prohibitively short that in some cases is 1 year. Also, the maintenance actions performed on such a crossover have not resulted in improvement of the crossing performance. Therefore, TU Delft was asked to analyse the problem of the poor performance of the crossing and to suggest the ways of its improvement. Also, the effectiveness of the maintenance actions had to be assessed.