Numerical prediction of ground vibrations induced by high-speed trains including wheel–rail–soil coupled effects

A simplified analytical model including the coupled effects of the wheel-rail-soil system and geometric irregularities of the track is proposed for evaluation of the moving train load. The wheel-rail-soil system is simulated as a series of moving point loads on an Euler-Bernoulli beam resting on a visco-elastic half-space, and the wave-number transform is adopted to derive the 2.5D finite element formulation. The numerical model is validated by published data in the literature. Numerical predictions of ground vibrations by using the proposed method are conducted at a site on the Qin-Shen Line in China. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd