Research on the working performance of fouled ballast bed under the multi-scale effect

Abstract

In order to explore the influence of different particle size gradations of dirty materials on the service performance of the ballast bed, the clean track bed, the completely fouled ballast bed polluted by coarse coal and fine coal, respectively, were studied based on the discrete element method. In order to explore the influence of the multi-scale particle size gradation of the dirty material on the service performance of the ballast bed, the clean ballast bed, the completely dirty ballast bed polluted by coarse-particle coal, and the completely dirty ballast bed polluted by coarse-particle coal were simulated, respectively, based on the discrete element method, which are used to analyze the dynamic response of track bed under different working conditions under cyclic load. The model is verified by the lateral resistance and vertical stiffness of the ballast bed to prove the accuracy of the discrete element model. On this basis, the dynamic cyclic load is considered to analyze and study the mechanical response and change law of the ballast bed with different degrees of contamination. Studies have shown that after the ballast bed is contaminated, its lateral resistance and vertical support stiffness are reduced, the amount of settlement increases, the coordination number between ballasts is declined, and the fine-grained dirty material has a worse effect on the ballast bed; The displacement value of the ballast particles decreases with the increase of the depth of the ballast bed; The displacement value of the ballast particles under the rail is the largest, and the ballast particles on the ballast shoulder appear dilatancy; The displacement of the ballast particles at the laterally symmetrical position of the track structure is close to but not completely same; Dirty materials aggravate the frequency of ballast particles, and the impact of fine-particle coal powder is particularly significant.