Effect of nonlinearity of fastening system on railway slab track dynamic response

Fastening systems have a significant role in the response of railway slab track systems. Although experimental tests indicate nonlinear behavior of fastening systems, they have been simulated as a linear spring-dashpot element in the available literature. In this paper, the influence of the nonlinear behavior of fastening systems on the slab track response was investigated. In this regard, a nonlinear model of vehicle/slab track interaction, including two commonly used fastening systems (i.e., RFFS and RWFS), was developed. The time history of excitation frequency of the fastening system was derived using the short time Fourier transform. The model was validated, using the results of a comprehensive field test carried out in this study. The frequency response of the track was studied to evaluate the effect of excitation frequency on the railway track response. The results obtained from the model were compared with those of the conventional linear model of vehicle/slab track interaction. The effects of vehicle speed, axle load, pad stiffness, fastening preload on the difference between the outputs obtained from the linear and nonlinear models were investigated through a parametric study. It was shown that the difference between the results obtained from linear and nonlinear models is up to 38 and 18 percent for RWFS and RFFS, respectively. Based on the outcomes obtained, a nonlinear to linear correction factor as a function of vehicle speed, vehicle axle load, pad stiffness and preload was derived. It was shown that consideration of the correction factor compensates the errors caused by the assumption of linear behavior for the fastening systems in the currently used vehicle track interaction models.