An iterative method for solving the dynamic response of railway vehicle-track coupled systems based on prediction of wheel-rail forces

A moving vehicle travelling on a two layer flexible track is considered in this study. The accuracy of the proposed method is verified by comparing the results obtained from the present method with the results from the commercial software NUCARS and the efficiency are verified by comparing with the conventional iterative method. Numerical results show that the present method not only gives results comparable to those using the NUCARS software in terms of accuracy, but also saves at least 25% computational cost compared with the conventional iterative method. With the nonlinear wheel-rail contact relation fully considered, the present method can get more detailed results of the vehicle-track coupled model. Meanwhile, the efficiency of the present method is enhanced by means of prediction of wheel-rail forces with the WLSE predictor.