A comparison of track model formulations for simulation of dynamic vehicle–track interaction in switches and crossings

This paper compares different track model formulations for the simulation of dynamic vehicle–track interaction in switches and crossings (S&C, turnouts) in a multi-body simulation (MBS) environment. The investigations are an extension of the S&C simulation Benchmark with the addition of a finite element model of a 60E1-760-1:15 turnout. This model constitutes a common reference from which four different track formulations are derived: co-running, modal superposition, finite element incorporated into the MBS model and finite element coupled to MBS using a co-simulation approach. For the different track models, the difference in modelling technique, results, simulation time, and suitability for different simulation tasks is compared. A good agreement is found between the different track model formulations for wheel–rail contact forces and rail displacements. This study found a better agreement between co-running and structural track models compared to previous studies in the prediction of wheel–rail contact forces. This appears to be due to the increased complexity of co-running track model used in this study together with a tuning of the co-running track model to the reference model in a wider frequency range. For the reader interested to reproduce the results in this paper, the reference track model is available for download.