Simulation of interaction between a train in general motion and a track

An existing state-space based numerical method to simulate vertical dynamic interaction between a rolling train and a railway track is improved and extended. The model is extended to enable general three-dimensional-motion of a train traversing a track. For the vehicle description a multibody dynamics method is used which allows for flexible components, for example, wheelsets. The track model is accordingly made three-dimensional in the sense that it allows for deflections and forces in all three directions at the wheel-rail contact. A track and a train in general motion imply two-dimensional modelling of the contact surface. Therefore, a linearised contact model including contact zone detection is proposed. The equations of motion of the system are formulated in a first-order form. The generalised dynamic train-track interaction model is verified against existing programs and good agreement of the results is obtained.