Determining the Deformation Characteristics of Railway Ballast by Mathematical Modeling of Elastic Wave Propagation

Abstract

The article solves the problem of theoretically determining the deformable characteristics of railway ballast, considering its condition through mathematical modeling. Different tasks require mathematical models with different levels of detail of certain elements. After a certain limit, excessive detailing only worsens the quality of the model. Therefore, for many problems of the interaction between the track and the rolling stock, it is sufficient to describe the ballast as a homogeneous isotropic layer with a vertical elastic deformation. The elastic deformation of the ballast is formed by the deviation of individual elements; the ballast may have pollutants, the ballast may have places with different levels of compaction, etc. To be able to determine the general characteristics of the layer, a dynamic model of the stress–strain state of the system based on the dynamic problem of the theory of elasticity is applied. The reaction of the ballast to the dynamic load is modeled through the passage of elastic deformation waves. The given results can be applied in the models of the railway track in the other direction as initial data regarding the ballast layer.