Effect of dowel joints on dynamic behavior of train–discrete floating slab track system

Dowel joints are installed at the end of floating slabs and can effectively reduce the discontinuity of deformation between adjacent floating slabs. The shear spring model had been proposed for modeling the dowel joints of the floating slab track, while the constraint effect of dowel joints on the bending/rotation has not been considered. For a more comprehensive investigation of dowel joints, two idealized dowel models are introduced here, that is, the shear spring–dashpot model and the bending spring–dashpot model, respectively. The effects of these two models on the vibration of train–floating slab track system are analyzed by numerical examples. It is concluded that both shear dowel model and bending dowel model can reduce the dynamic responses of the train–floating slab track system. In detail, the shear dowel model can effectively reduce the displacement difference between adjacent floating slabs but can hardly decrease the displacement amplitudes of the rail and slabs, while the bending dowel model can effectively decrease the displacement amplitudes but has little influence on reducing the displacement difference. In addition, the spring stiffness of these two dowel models has significant influence on the vibration performance of the train–floating slab track system, while the effect of damping coefficients can almost be neglected.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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