Time-varying model of railway tangent track spatial vibration

In order to analyzing the vehicle-track coupling vibration character of infinite length track, a time-varying model of railway tangent track spatial vibration was presented. With finite element method, both the sleeper and the rail were divided by linear viscoelastic discretely supported beam element. The vibration equation group of the model were formulated using the principle of total potential energy with stationary value in elastic system and the "set-in-right-position" rule for formulating matrixes. Using the technique of track being "added and cut down", the mass matrix, damp matrix, stiffness matrix and force vector of the model became time-varying. With the existing vehicle dynamics model and the measurement parameters, 4 km track was applied to calculate the dynamic responses of vehicle-track coupling vibration. The maximum values of!rail displacement, wheelset lateral force and carbody acceleration between calculation and measurement results are very close, which demonstrates the feasibility of the presented model.