Simulating train movement in railway traffic using a car-following model

Based on a car-following model, in this paper, we propose a new traffic model for simulating train movement in railway traffic. In the proposed model, some realistic characteristics of train movement are considered, such as the distance headway and the safety stopping distance. Using the proposed traffic model, we analyse the space-time diagram of traffic flow, the trajectory of train movement, etc. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed model can be successfully used for simulating the train movement. Some complex phenomena can be reproduced, such as the complex acceleration and deceleration of trains and the propagation of train delay.

Inversion of excitation source in ground vibration from urban railway traffic

Urban trains running on ground surface lead to evironmental ground vibrations in the vicinity of railwaylines. The complicated vibration source of the system can hardly be measured directly. The inversion methodology in engineering seismology is borrowed here to study the dynamic exciting sourec, i.e., the wheel-rail unevenness. A dynamic coupled train-track-3D ground model is combined with a genetic algorithm for the inversion. The solution space of the inversion variables, the objective function and the solving genetic strategy of the inversion are determined, and a joint inversion for the wheel-rail unevenness source function and some track structure parameters is therefore designed. The wheel-rail unevenness PSD, being the source function of No. 13 Beijing urban railway, is obtained by the inversoin based on observed data in the field. The result indicates that the source function discribes the track unevenness in the range of wavelength over 1.2 m, and reflects properly wheel irregularites in the range of wavelength shorter than 1.2 m. It should be noticed that the urban rail traffic is not very fast, and this range of short wavelength is exactly corresponding to the main frequency band of environmental vibrations from the traffic. The unevenness of wavelength under 1.2 m is underestimated, and the ground vibration in the main frequency band must be underestimated consequently, if the track unevenness spectrum is taken as the source function. Rather than the track spectrum reflecting just the evenness of track, the wheel-rail spectrum expresses both the track unevenness and the irregularities of wheels, and therefore is more suitable to be the source function of urban railway traffic. It is also convinced that the exciting source inversion according to observed ground vibrations is an effective way to detect quantitatively the combined wheel-rail unevenness.

Modelling and Simulation for Train Movement Control Using Car-Following Strategy

Based on optimM velocity car-following model, in this paper, we propose a new railway tramc model for describing the process of train movement control. In the proposed model, we give an improved form of the optimal velocity function V^opt, which is considered as the desired velocity function for train movement control under different control conditions. In order to test the proposed model, we simulate and analyze the trajectories of train movements, moreover, discuss the relationship curves between the train allowable velocity and the site of objective point in detail. Analysis results indicate that the proposed model can well capture some realistic futures of train movement control.

Special issue: Management of road and railway traffic and transportation engineering

In recent years,with the development of road and railway transportation industries,a variety of complicated decisionmaking problems have emerged in real-world applications.It is urgent to analyze these problems from the perspective of theoretical and methodological innovations,and provide methods in management,decision-making and application so as to achieve efficient operations of traffic and transportation systems.These problems have

Reasons and laws of ground vibration amplification induced by vertical dynamic load

The phenomenon of ground vibration amplification caused by railway traffic was found and proved. In order to study the reasons which cause the amplification, a drop-weight test was performed. Then, the model for both homogeneous and layered soil subjected to a harmonic vertical load was built. With the help of this model, displacement Green's function was calculated and the propagation laws of ground vibration responses were discussed. Results show that: 1) When applying a harmonic load on the half-space surface, the amplitude of ground vibrations attenuate with fluctuation, which is caused by the superposition of bulk and Rayleigh waves. 2) Vibration amplification can be enlarged under the conditions of embedded source and the soil layers. 3) In practice, the fluctuant attenuation should be paid attention to especially for the vibration receivers who are sensitive to single low frequencies(<10 Hz). Moreover, for the case of embedded loads, it should also be paid attention to that the receivers are located at the place where the horizontal distance is similar to embedded depth, usually 10 to 30 m for metro lines.