Parameters studies for rail wear in high-speed railway turnouts by unreplicated saturated factorial design

Rail wear is one of the main reasons for reducing the service life of high-speed railway turnouts in China. The rail wear characteristics of high-speed railway turnouts are influenced by a large number of input parameters of the complex train-turnout system. To reproduce the actual operation conditions of railway turnouts, random distributions of these inputs need to be considered in rail wear simulation. For a given nominal layout of the high-speed railway turnout, 19 input parameters for rail wear simulation in high-speed railway turnouts are investigated based on orthogonal design of experiment. Three dynamic responses(wheel-rail friction work, normal contact force and size of contact patch) are defined as observed values and the significant factors(direction of passage, axle load, running speed, friction coefficient, and wheel and rail profiles) are determined by two unreplicated saturated factorial design methods, including the half-normal probability plot method and Dong 93 method. As part of the associated rail wear simulation, the influence of the wear models and the local elastic deformation on the rail wear was separately investigated. The calculation results for the wear models are quite different, especially for large creep mode. The local elastic deformation has a large effect on the sliding speed and rail wear and needs to be considered in the rail wear simulation.

Influence of span-to-depth ratio on dynamic response of vehicle-turnoutbridge system in high-speed railway

For high-speed railways,the smoothness of the railway line significantly affects the operational speed of trains.When the train passes through the turnout on a long-span bridge,the wheel-rail impacts caused by the turnout structure irregularities,and the instability arising from the bridge's flexural deformation lead to a strong coupling effect in the vehicle-turnout-bridge system.This significantly affects both ride comfort and operational safety.For addressing this issue,the present study considered a long-span continuous rigid-frame bridge as an example and established a train-turnout-bridge coupled dynamic model of high-speed railway.Utilizing a selfdeveloped dynamic simulation program,the study analysed the dynamic response characteristics when the train passes through the turnouts on the bridge.It also investigated the influence of different span-to-depth ratios of the bridge on the vehicle dynamic response when the train passes through the main line and branch line of turnouts and then proposed a span-to-depth ratio limit value for a long-span continuous rigid-frame bridge.The research findings suggest that the changes in the span-to-depth ratio have a relatively minor impact on the train’s operational performance but significantly affect the dynamic characteristics of the bridge structure.Based on the findings and a comprehensive assessment of safety indicators,it is advisable to establish a span-to-depth ratio limit of 1/4500 for a long-span continuous rigid-frame bridge.

Dynamic response of high-speed railway vehicle and welded turnout on large-span bridges based on rigid-flexible coupling system

Welded Turnout on Large-span Bridge(WTLB)is a complex multi-layer heterogeneous system and can significantly influence the service performance of High-Speed Railway(HSR).Understanding the coupling dynamic response of the vehicle and WTLB is essential.Previous research did not consider the dynamic behavior of foundations,leading to an underestimation of the vehicle-turnout-foundation coupling dynamic response,particularly when turnouts were laid on large-span bridges.This study proposes a novel modeling method that includes the foundations,to overcome the previous shortcomings by applying a rigid-flexible coupling system.In this approach,the vehicle was modeled as a rigid body sub-model in a Multi-Body Software(MBS),while WTLB was modeled as a flexible bodies sub-model using Finite Element(FE)software.The modal information from the FE model was imported into the MBS software.The two sub-models were coupled by the wheel-rail contact in the MBS environment and then the Vehicle-turnout-bridge Rigid-flexible Coupling Dynamic(VRCD)calculation model was established and it was discovered that the calculation results showed good agreement with the field test data.Through the VRCD model,the safety of the structure,the stability of the vehicle and the comfort of passengers were investigated,as well as several important infrastructure factors.The results demonstrate that this novel method provides accurate calculations and highlights the complex and significant interactions in the vehicle-turnout-bridge system.

A review of artificial intelligence applications in high-speed railway systems

In recent years,the global surge of High-speed Railway(HSR)revolutionized ground transportation,providing secure,comfortable,and punctual services.The next-gen HSR,fueled by emerging services like video surveillance,emergency communication,and real-time scheduling,demands advanced capabilities in real-time perception,automated driving,and digitized services,which accelerate the integration and application of Artificial Intelligence(AI)in the HSR system.This paper first provides a brief overview of AI,covering its origin,evolution,and breakthrough applications.A comprehensive review is then given regarding the most advanced AI technologies and applications in three macro application domains of the HSR system:mechanical manufacturing and electrical control,communication and signal control,and transportation management.The literature is categorized and compared across nine application directions labeled as intelligent manufacturing of trains and key components,forecast of railroad maintenance,optimization of energy consumption in railroads and trains,communication security,communication dependability,channel modeling and estimation,passenger scheduling,traffic flow forecasting,high-speed railway smart platform.Finally,challenges associated with the application of AI are discussed,offering insights for future research directions.

High-speed railway track components inspection framework based on YOLOv8 with high-performance model deployment

Railway inspection poses significant challenges due to the extensive use of various components in vast railway networks,especially in the case of high-speed railways.These networks demand high maintenance but offer only limited inspection windows.In response,this study focuses on developing a high-performance rail inspection system tailored for high-speed railways and railroads with constrained inspection timeframes.This system leverages the latest artificial intelligence advancements,incorporating YOLOv8 for detection.Our research introduces an efficient model inference pipeline based on a producer-consumer model,effectively utilizing parallel processing and concurrent computing to enhance performance.The deployment of this pipeline,implemented using C++,TensorRT,float16 quantization,and oneTBB,represents a significant departure from traditional sequential processing methods.The results are remarkable,showcasing a substantial increase in processing speed:from 38.93 Frames Per Second(FPS)to 281.06 FPS on a desktop system equipped with an Nvidia RTX A6000 GPU and from 19.50 FPS to 200.26 FPS on the Nvidia Jetson AGX Orin edge computing platform.This proposed framework has the potential to meet the real-time inspection requirements of high-speed railways.

A discussion about the limitations of the Eurocode’s high-speed load model for railway bridges

High-speed railway bridges are subjected to normative limitations concerning maximum permissible deck accelerations.For the design of these structures,the European norm EN 1991-2 introduces the high-speed load model(HSLM)—a set of point loads intended to include the effects of existing high-speed trains.Yet,the evolution of current trains and the recent development of new load models motivate a discussion regarding the limits of validity of the HSLM.For this study,a large number of randomly generated load models of articulated,conventional,and regular trains are tested and compared with the envelope of HSLM effects.For each type of train,two sets of 100,000 load models are considered:one abiding by the limits of the EN 1991-2 and another considering wider limits.This comparison is achieved using both a bridge-independent metric(train signatures)and dynamic analyses on a case study bridge(the Canelas bridge of the Portuguese Railway Network).For the latter,a methodology to decrease the computational cost of moving loads analysis is introduced.Results show that some theoretical load models constructed within the stipulated limits of the norm can lead to effects not covered by the HSLM.This is especially noted in conventional trains,where there is a relation with larger distances between centres of adjacent vehicle bogies.

Influence of pier height on the safety of trains running on high-speed railway bridges during earthquakes

Sudden earthquakes pose a threat to the running safety of trains on high-speed railway bridges,and the stiffness of piers is one of the factors affecting the dynamic response of train-track-bridge system.In this paper,a experiment of a train running on a high-speed railway bridge is performed based on a dynamic experiment system,and the corresponding numerical model is established.The reliability of the numerical model is verified by experiments.Then,the experiment and numerical data are analyzed to reveal the pier height effects on the running safety of trains on bridges.The results show that when the pier height changes,the frequency of the bridge below the 30 m pier height changes greater;the increase of pier height causes the transverse fundamental frequency of the bridge close to that of the train,and the shaking angle and lateral displacement of the train are the largest for bridge with 50 m pier,which increases the risk of derailment;with the pier height increases from 8 m to 50 m,the derailment coefficient obtained by numerical simulations increases by 75% on average,and the spectral intensity obtained by experiments increases by 120% on average,two indicators exhibit logarithmic variation.

Field survey and analysis on near-fault severely damaged high-speed railway bridge in 2022 M6.9 Menyuan earthquake

The 2022 M6.9 Menyuan earthquake caused severe damage to a high-speed railway bridge,which was designed for high-speed trains running at speeds of above 250 km/h and is located right next to the fault.Bridges of this type have been widely used for rapidly constructing the high-speed railway network,but few bridges have been tested by near-fault devastating earthquakes.The potential severe impact of the earthquake on the high-speed railway is not only the safety of the infrastructure,trains and passengers,but also economic loss due to interrupted railway use.Therefore,a field survey was carried out immediately after the earthquake to collect time-sensitive data.The damage to the bridge was carefully investigated,and quantitative analyses were conducted to better understand the mechanism of the bridge failure.It was found that seismic action perpendicular to the bridge’s longitudinal direction caused severe damage to the girders and rails,while none of the piers showed obvious deformation or cracking.The maximum values of transverse displacement,out-of-plane rotation and twisting angle of girders reached 212.6 cm,3.1 degrees and 19.9 degrees,respectively,causing severe damage to the bearing supports and anti-seismic retaining blocks.These observations provide a basis for improving the seismic design of high-speed railway bridges located in near-fault areas.

Noise reduction mechanism of high-speed railway box-girder bridges installed with MTMDs on top plate

The issue of low-frequency structural noise radiated from high-speed railway(HSR) box-girder bridges(BGBs) is a significant challenge worldwide. Although it is known that vibrations in BGBs caused by moving trains can be reduced by installing multiple tuned mass dampers(MTMDs) on the top plate, there is limited research on the noise reduction achieved by this method. This study aims to investigate the noise reduction mechanism of BGBs installed with MTMDs on the top plate. A sound radiation prediction model for the BGB installed with MTMDs is developed, based on the vehicle–track–bridge coupled dynamics and acoustics boundary element method. After being verified by field tested results, the prediction model is employed to study the reduction of vibration and noise of BGBs caused by the MTMDs. It is found that installing MTMDs on top plate can significantly affect the vibration distribution and sound radiation law of BGBs. However, its impact on the sound radiation caused by vibrations dominated by the global modes of BGBs is minimal. The noise reduction achieved by MTMDs is mainly through changing the acoustic radiation contributions of each plate of the bridge. In the lower frequency range, the noise reduction of BGB caused by MTMDs can be more effective if the installation of MTMDs can modify the vibration frequency and distribution of the BGB to avoid the influence of small vibrations and disperse the sound radiation from each plate.

Reflection on methodology of the correlation between electromagnetic interference and safety in high-speed railway

Purpose – In the continuous development of high-speed railways, ensuring the safety of the operation controlsystem is crucial. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) faults in signaling equipment may cause transportationinterruptions, delays and even threaten the safety of train operations. Exploring the impact of disturbances onsignaling equipment and establishing evaluation methods for the correlation between EMI and safety isurgently needed.Design/methodology/approach – This paper elaborates on the necessity and significance of studying theimpact of EMI as an unavoidable and widespread risk factor in the external environment of high-speed railwayoperations and continuous development. The current status of research methods and achievements from theperspectives of standard systems, reliability analysis and safety assessment are examined layer by layer.Additionally, it provides prospects for innovative ideas for exploring the quantitative correlation between EMIand signaling safety.Findings – Despite certain innovative achievements in both domestic and international standard systems andrelated research for ensuring and evaluating railway signaling safety, there’s a lack of quantitative and strategic research on the degradation of safety performance in signaling equipment due to EMI. A quantitativecorrelation between EMI and safety has yet to be established. On this basis, this paper proposes considerationsfor research methods pertaining to the correlation between EMI and safety.Originality/value – This paper overviews a series of methods and outcomes derived from domestic andinternational studies regarding railway signaling safety, encompassing standard systems, reliability analysisand safety assessment. Recognizing the necessity for quantitatively describing and predicting the impact ofEMI on high-speed railway signaling safety, an innovative approach using risk assessment techniques as abridge to establish the correlation between EMI and signaling safety is proposed.

Experimental study on the acoustic roughness spectrum of high-speed railway rails

Purpose–This study aims to investigate the acoustic roughness of rails on China’s high-speed railways,with a focus on short-wavelength irregularities(less than 80 cm),which are known to significantly contribute to noise.The goal is to develop a specific acoustic roughness spectrum tailored for China’s high-speed railway system,as no such spectrum currently exists.Design/methodology/approach–A long-term tracking study was conducted on major railway lines in China,monitoring rail roughness throughout the initial operational period and the rails’service life.Data preprocessing techniques such as peak removal and curvature correction were applied for acoustic adjustments.A spatial-wavelength domain transformation was performed,providing the distribution patterns and statistical characteristics of acoustic roughness on China’s high-speed rails.Based on these analyses,a model for constructing the acoustic roughness spectrum was developed.Findings–The study found that the acoustic roughness of China’s high-speed railway rails follows aχ2 distribution with six degrees of freedom.For wavelengths greater than 8 cm,the acoustic roughness spectrum remains below the ISO specified limits.In the wavelength range of 3.2 cm to 6.3 cm,the roughness is comparable to or within the limits specified by ISO 3095:2005 and ISO 3095:2013.However,for wavelengths shorter than 2.5 cm,the roughness exceeds ISO limits.Originality/value–This research fills the gap in the lack of a specific acoustic roughness spectrum for China’s high-speed railways.By establishing a tailored spectrum based on long-term data analysis,the findings provide valuable insights for noise control and rail maintenance in the context of China’s high-speed rail system.

Research on safety control technology of high-speed railway combined test based on threatening event analysis

Purpose–Safety management is a key point and poses a challenge in joint testing.To detect and address potential accidents’hidden dangers early,this paper conducts research on the safety control technology for high-speed railway joint tests by incorporating the concept of hazardous events.Design/methodology/approach–Aiming at ensuring the safety of high-speed railway combined inspections and trials,this paper starts from the dual prevention mechanism.It introduces the concept of threatening events,defines them and analyzes the differences between threatening events and railway accidents.The paper also proposes a cause model for threatening events in high-speed railway combined inspections and trials,based on three types of hazard sources.Furthermore,it conducts research on the control strategies for these threatening events.Findings–The research on safety control technology for high-speed railway combined operation and testing,based on the analysis of threatened events,offers a new perspective for safety management in these operations.It also provides theoretical and practical support for the transition from passive prevention to active risk pre-control,which holds significant theoretical and practical value.Originality/value–The innovation mainly includes the following three aspects:(1)Building on the traditional dual prevention mechanism,which includes risk hierarchical management and control as well as hidden danger investigation and management,a triple prevention mechanism is proposed.This new mechanism adds the management of threatening events as the third line of defense.The aim is to more comprehensively identify and address potential security risks,thereby enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of security management.(2)In this paper,the definition of a railway threatening event is clarified,and the causative model of a high-speed railway threatening event based on three kinds of danger sources is proposed.(3)This paper puts forward the control strategy of the high-speed railway combined operation and trial,which includes five key links:identification,reporting,analysis,rectification and feedback,which provides a new perspective for the safety management of the high-speed railway combined operation and trial and has important theoretical and application value.

Risk assessment of high-speed railway CTC system based on improved game theory and cloud model

Purpose-In order to solve the problem of inaccurate calculation of index weights,subjectivity and uncertainty of index assessment in the risk assessment process,this study aims to propose a scientific and reasonable centralized traffic control(CTC)system risk assessment method.Design/methodologylapproach-First,system-theoretic process analysis(STPA)is used to conduct risk analysis on the CTC system and constructs risk assessment indexes based on this analysis.Then,to enhance the accuracy of weight calculation,the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process(FAHP),fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory(FDEMATEL)and entropy weight method are employed to calculate the subjective weight,relative weight and objective weight of each index.These three types of weights are combined using game theory to obtain the combined weight for each index.To reduce subjectivity and uncertainty in the assessment process,the backward cloud generator method is utilized to obtain the numerical character(NC)of the cloud model for each index.The NCs of the indexes are then weighted to derive the comprehensive cloud for risk assessment of the CTC system.This cloud model is used to obtain the CTC system's comprehensive risk assessment.The model's similarity measurement method gauges the likeness between the comprehensive risk assessment cloud and the risk standard cloud.Finally,this process yields the risk assessment results for the CTC system.Findings-The cloud model can handle the subjectivity and fuzziness in the risk assessment process well.The cloud model-based risk assessment method was applied to the CTC system risk assessment of a railway group and achieved good results.Originality/value-This study provides a cloud model-based method for risk assessment of CTC systems,which accurately calculates the weight of risk indexes and uses cloud models to reduce uncertainty and subjectivity in the assessment,achieving effective risk assessment of CTC systems.It can provide a reference and theoretical basis for risk management of the CTC system.

Eddy current quantitative evaluation of high-speed railway contact wire cracks based on neural network

Purpose–The purpose of this study is to study the quantitative evaluation method of contact wire cracks by analyzing the changing law of eddy current signal characteristics under different cracks of contact wire of high-speed railway so as to provide a new way of thinking and method for the detection of contact wire injuries of high-speed railway.Design/methodology/approach–Based on the principle of eddy current detection and the specification parameters of high-speed railway contact wires in China,a finite element model for eddy current testing of contact wires was established to explore the variation patterns of crack signal characteristics in numerical simulation.A crack detection system based on eddy current detection was built,and eddy current detection voltage data was obtained for cracks of different depths and widths.By analyzing the variation law of eddy current signals,characteristic parameters were obtained and a quantitative evaluation model for crack width and depth was established based on the back propagation(BP)neural network.Findings–Numerical simulation and experimental detection of eddy current signal change rule is basically consistent,based on the law of the selected characteristics of the parameters in the BP neural network crack quantitative evaluation model also has a certain degree of effectiveness and reliability.BP neural network training results show that the classification accuracy for different widths and depths of the classification is 100 and 85.71%,respectively,and can be effectively realized on the high-speed railway contact line cracks of the quantitative evaluation classification.Originality/value–This study establishes a new type of high-speed railway contact wire crack detection and identification method,which provides a new technical means for high-speed railway contact wire injury detection.The study of eddy current characteristic law and quantitative evaluation model for different cracks in contact line has important academic value and practical significance,and it has certain guiding significance for the detection technology of contact line in high-speed railway.

Innovative approaches in high-speed railway bridge model simplification for enhanced computational efficiency

In the realm of high-speed railway bridge engineering,managing the intricacies of the track-bridge system model(TBSM)during seismic events remains a formidable challenge.This study pioneers an innovative approach by presenting a simplified bridge model(SBM)optimized for both computational efficiency and precise representation,a seminal contribution to the engineering design landscape.Central to this innovation is a novel model-updating methodology that synergistically melds artificial neural networks with an augmented particle swarm optimization.The neural networks adeptly map update parameters to seismic responses,while enhancements to the particle swarm algorithm’s inertial and learning weights lead to superior SBM parameter updates.Verification via a 4-span high-speed railway bridge revealed that the optimized SBM and TBSM exhibit a highly consistent structural natural period and seismic response,with errors controlled within 7%.Additionally,the computational efficiency improved by over 100%.Leveraging the peak displacement and shear force residuals from the seismic TBSM and SBM as optimization objectives,SBM parameters are adeptly revised.Furthermore,the incorporation of elastoplastic springs at the beam ends of the simplified model effectively captures the additional mass,stiffness,and constraint effects exerted by the track system on the bridge structure.

Elastoplastic bridge deck response spectra of high-speed railway simply-supported girder bridge with CRTS Ⅱ track system

The seismic damage to ancillary facilities on high-speed railway(HSR)bridges can affect the normal movement of trains.To propose the bridge deck acceleration response spectra of the typical HSR simply-supported girder bridge for simplifying the seismic responses analysis of the facilities on bridges,the finite element models of the HSR multi-span simply-supported girder bridges with CRTSII track were established,and the numerical model was validated by tests.Besides,the effects of the span number,peak ground acceleration(PGA),pier height on the seismic acceleration and response spectra of the bridge deck were investigated.Afterward,the bridge acceleration amplification factor curves and bridge deck response spectra with different PGAs and pier heights were obtained.The formula for bridge deck acceleration amplification factor,with a 95%guarantee rate,was fitted.Moreover,the finite element models of the overhead contact lines(OCL)mounted on rigid base and bridges were established to validate the fitted formula.The results indicated that the maximum seismic acceleration response is in the midspan of the beam.The proposed formula for the bridge deck acceleration response spectra can be used to analyze the earthquake response of the OCL and other ancillary facilities on HSR simply-supported girder bridges.The bridge deck acceleration response spectra are conservative in terms of structural safety and can significantly improving the analysis efficiency.

WiFi performance analysis in high-speed railway communication

In High-Speed Railways(HSRs),the Train Control and Management System(TCMS)plays a crucial role.However,as the demand for train networks grows,the limitations of traditional wired connections have become apparent.This paper designs and implements a Wireless Train Communication Network(WTCN)to enhance the existing train network infrastructure.To address the challenges that wireless communication technology faces in the unique environment of high-speed rail,this study first analyzes various onboard environments and simulates several typical scenarios in the laboratory.Integrating the specific application scenarios and service characteristics of the high-speed train control network,we conduct measurements and validations of WiFi performance,exploring the specific impacts of different factors on throughput and delay.

Study on the Influence of Lanzhou-Urumqi High-Speed Railway on Regional Accessibility and Economic Development

The Lanzhou-Urumqi high-speed railway is an important part of the railway network connecting Gansu,Qinghai,and Xinjiang,and it is of far-reaching significance in facilitating China’s western development.An accessibility model and a double difference model were built to analyze the impact of the Lanzhou-Urumqi high-speed railway on regional accessibility and economic development of the areas along the line before(2012-2014)and after(2017-2019)its opening.The results show that the regional accessibility remains unchanged before and after the operation of this railway line.However,there is a spatial difference in improvement,that of central cities being better.The opening of the high-speed railway is conducive to driving the overall economic development of the region and promoting the comprehensive and coordinated development of regional economies.

Overview of China high-speed railway earthquake early-warning system

Amidst China's aggressive expansion of its high-speed rail network,the intersection of these lines with seismic fault zones has elevated the risk profile for high-speed rail travel.To counteract the potential dangers posed by seismic disturbances,China has introduced a comprehensive high-speed railway earthquake early-warning system.This article presents an in-depth examination of this system,encompassing aspects such as its developmental evolution,architectural design,and pivotal technologies.Furthermore,it ventures into the realm of future enhancements and developmental pathways for the system,fusing emergent findings from earthquake early warning research with advancements in artificial intelligence.

Length optimization of straight line connecting turnout on main line in high-speed railway station yard

Taking the development of high-speed railway in China as background, and referring to the dynamic theory and wheel-rail contact mode, dynamic analysis model was established, considering the setting position of straight lines and running conditions of train in high-speed railway station yard. Using the established model, and choosing vehicle lateral acceleration and wheel suspension as the evaluation indexes, dynamic characteristic of vehicle traveling in turnout and adjacent area on main line was analyzed, and effects on travelling safety and stability of train aroused by length variation of straight lines were calculated based on analyzing the damping rules of vibration. The results show that, a certain length of straight lines can alleviate the vibration aroused in turnout and curve(turnout), length of straight lines connecting turnouts in different sections on main line was proposed to meet the demand of traveling stability, and shortening or cancelation of straight line for the scale limitation of station yard has less influence on operation safety of train.