Experimental validation of wavelet based solution for dynamic response of railway track subjected to a moving train

• A semi-analytical solution for the nonlinear dynamic response of a beam is shown.
• The dynamic part of train load related to rail imperfections is considered.
• A wavelet based approximation is applied to the problem of railway track analysis.
• Measurements taken for fast train are used for validation of the proposed method.

New approaches allowing effective analysis of railway structures dynamic behaviour are needed for appropriate modelling and understanding of phenomena associated with train transportation. The literature highlights the fact that nonlinear assumptions are of importance in dynamic analysis of railway tracks. This paper presents wavelet based semi-analytical solution for the infinite Euler–Bernoulli beam resting on a nonlinear foundation and subjected to a set of moving forces, being representation of railway track with moving train, along with its preliminary experimental validation. It is shown that this model, although very simplified, with an assumption of viscous damping of foundation, can be considered as a good enough approximation of realistic structures behaviour. The steady-state response of the beam is obtained by applying the Galilean co-ordinate system and the Adomian׳s decomposition method combined with coiflet based approximation, leading to analytical estimation of transverse displacements. The applied approach, using parameters taken from real measurements carried out on the Polish Railways network for fast train Pendolino EMU-250, shows ability of the proposed method to analyse parametrically dynamic systems associated with transportation. The obtained results are in accordance with measurement data in wide range of physical parameters, which can be treated as a validation of the developed wavelet based approach. The conducted investigation is supplemented by several numerical examples.