Numerical analysis of new pre-installed steel modular railroad track assembly

- A new pre-installed steel modular railroad track assembly was introduced.
- A 3-D FEM of the new steel modular railroad track assembly was established.
- The mechanical characteristics of the new structure was analyzed and compared with traditional track.
- Recommendation of the cross section of the cross ties was put forward.

Due to the modularity of the traditional track and the discreteness of the ballast bed, the application of the repeated and random train load would inevitably result in the accumulation of residual deformation and the track damage. A new steel pre-installed modular railroad track assembly was designed to provide better stability and reduce deformation. It includes a plurality of spaced-apart cross-ties, two side ties, intermediate ties and a pair of rails road track rails. In order to figure out the mechanical performance of this new steel pre-installed modular railroad track assembly, the 3-D finite element model of the steel modular railroad track including with the track, ballast bed, sub-ballast and the sub-grade was built. In this model, the load distribution and the vertical deformation of ties with different cross sections were discussed, and the stresses of the steel modular railroad track and the ballast bed were analyzed. The results indicate that, compared with the traditional track, the single wheel load will transfer to more ties of the new steel modular railroad track and the integrality of the new steel modular railroad track is much better. The maximum deflection of the steel modular railroad track located at the point of load application (under the wheel load). It is much smaller than that of the traditional track. As a result, it can be concluded that the new steel modular railroad track is more likely to induce less deflection under the series wheel load and have better rail regularity.