Propagation of perturbances generated in classic track, and track with Y-type sleepers

Railway track with classic and Y-shaped sleepers or slab track is composed of two rails that are assumed to be infinitely long and joined with sleepers by viscoelastic pads. Numerous assumptions are used in railway-track modelling, leading to different simplifications. The two-dimensional periodic model of track consists of two parallel infinite Timoshenko beams (rails) coupled with equally spaced sleepers on a viscoelastic foundation.Nowadays the interest of engineers is focused on slab track and track with Y-shaped sleepers. The fundamental qualitative difference between the track with classic and Y-shaped sleepers is related to local longitudinal symmetric or antisymmetric features of the railway track. The sleeper spacing influences the periodicity of the foundation elasticity coefficient, mass density (rotational inertia) and the effective shear rigidity. Track with classic concrete sleepers is affected much more by rotational inertia and shear deflections than track with Y-shaped sleepers. The increase of the elastic-wave velocity in track with Y-shaped sleepers and more uniform load distribution will be proved by analysis and simulation.The analytical and numerical analyses allows us to evaluate the track properties in a range of moderate and high train speeds. However, the correct approach is not simple, since the structure of the track interacts with the wheels, wheelsets and vehicles, which constitute complex inertial loads. We note that the growth of amplitude in selected velocity ranges depends strongly on the track type.