Investigation on the Dynamic Characteristics of Track Slab with the Influence of Rail Corrugation

Rail corrugation, a common defect of rails, causes a high frequency self-oscillation effect in track slabs when there is an external load. In order to analyze the influence of multi-scales of rail corrugation on the dynamic characteristics of track slab under an external moving load, the relationship between the nature vibration modes of a single track slab and the resonance of the wheel-rail at different wavelengths, wave depths, and velocities is investigated. The results clearly show that the vertical acceleration of the track slab is the largest when the wavelength is 60 mm and the wave depth is 0.5 mm. At this point, the peak frequency of the track slab approaches its natural frequency. The maximum vertical acceleration decreases as velocity increases. The resonance effect between the track slab and the vehicle body will trigger a side-frequency phenomenon in the track slab frequency domain diagram. The indicator margin factor (MF) is more sensitive when the wavelength and wave depth are different, and the MF and peak-to-peak value (PPV) are more sensitive when the vehicle velocity is different. They can be used to judge the degree of influence of different scales of rail corrugation on the vertical acceleration of track slab.