Response of prefabricated-polyurethane reinforced ballasted track to dislocation in tunnels through active fault zone

ABSTRACTThe dislocation of the active fault zone may cause some threat to the track structures passing through it, in order to investigate the response of prefabricated-polyurethane reinforced ballasted track and CRTS III slab track to different forms of fault and to compare their adaptability in fault zone, a finite element model of the track-tunnel-surrounding rock system and a dynamic model of vehicle-track system were integrated together in this study. Based on the models, the changes of track geometry of the two track structures were studied, the mechanical behaviour of track components was revealed, and the effect of irregularity caused by fault dislocation on vehicle dynamic response was studied. Results show that the components of CRTS III slab track are damaged at a smaller dislocation displacement than those of prefabricated-polyurethane reinforced ballasted track. With the increase of the train speed and dislocation displacement, the derailment coefficient and wheel load reduction rate also increase. The safe speed limits for travelling under different types of fault and different dislocation displacements are obtained, which can provide reference for similar engineering applications.KEYWORDS: Prefabricated-polyurethane reinforced ballasted trackballastless trackactive fault zonemechanical behaviourvehicle dynamic response Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Data availability statementData will be made available on request.CRediT authorship contribution statementWei Chen: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software. Pei Wu: Data curation, Writing- Original draft preparation. Lei Xu: Visualization, Methodology. Jijun Wang: Investigation, Supervision. Weidong Wang: Software, Validation. Ping Lou: Writing- Reviewing and Editing.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 52278469]; the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province [grant number 2022JJ30715]; the Science and Technology Research and Development Program Project of China Railway Group Limited [grant number 2022-Major-04]; the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Nos. 52378468; 52008404; U1934217]; Science and Technology Research and Development Program Project of China railway group limited [Major Special Project, NO.: 2020- Special-02; 2021-Special-08; 2021-Major-02]; Central South University Innovation-Driven Research Programme [2023CXQD072]; the National Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province [grant No. 2022JJ20071; 2021JJ30850; 2021JJ40760]; the Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan [grant No. 2022NSFSC1908]; the Project of Hunan Tieyuan Civil Engineering Testing Co., Ltd [grant No. HNTY2021K08]; Project of State Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and System Safety of Traffic Engineering Structures [KF2022-09]; the Science and technology research and development program contract of China National Railway Group Co., LTD [grant No. L2022G007; L2023G007]; the open project of Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Structural Safety of Ministry of Eduction, Guangxi University [grant No. 2022ZDK016].