Numerical Study Porosity of Railway Ballast during Tamping Process

• DOI: 10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.919-921.1124
• Publication Date: 2014-04-17T14:29:00Z
• Authors: Tao Yong Zhou; Bin Hu; Xue Yu Zhao; Bo Yan
• Keywords: 0211 other engineering and technologies; 02 engineering and technology

Tamping operation is an important part of railway maintenance work. The porosity of railway ballast is an important maintenance quality evaluation index during tamping process. In this paper, based on the discrete characteristics of railway ballast, the discrete element analysis model of railway ballast is created using the discrete element method, numerical simulations are performed to study the evolution of porosity of railway ballast under sleeper during tamping process. This paper focuses on the influence of vibration frequency of tamping tines during tamping process; an optimal vibration frequency is obtained from the simulation and compared with the actual vibration frequency recommended by China Railway Large Maintenance Machinery Co., Ltd. Kunming, it is found that the two vibration frequency is consistent. This result verifies that the discrete element method is an effective method to study the evolution of porosity of railway ballast during tamping process.