Leeper Settlement News Today

This paper presents the discrete element modeling of the dynamic response of a ballasted track under moving loads. The DEM model, consisting of sleepers, ballast, and sub-ballast, has been calibrated using field and laboratory data. This model was further used to examine the dynamic responses of the ballasted track subjected to a series of moving traffic loading representing various train axle loads and speeds. The results show that the permanent settlement of the sleeper, the breakage of ballas...

This paper presents the results of Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) which quantitively examine the effect of coal fouling on the deformation and degradation of ballast upon cyclic loading. The degradation model described herein considers the Weibull distribution effects in tandem with a granular medium hardening law that incorporates the maximum contact criterion to capture surface abrasion and corner breakage of angular ballast. The DEM model had been calibrated initially with laboratory data o...