The dynamic behaviour of a finite railway under the high-speed multiple moving forces by using finite element method

Based on the equivalence between the resonant frequency, the critical moving speed, the frequency spectrum and the maximum forced vibration response of the 'finite' railway and those of the 'infinite' one, an infinite railway is replaced by a finite one so that the finite element method is available for the dynamic analysis of the 'finite' railway subjected to the high-speed multiple moving forces. To agree with the practical situations, the dynamic behaviour of the 'discontinuous' railway is also investigated in addition to the traditional 'continuous' one. The influence of the moving-load speed, the total number of moving loads and the spacing between any two adjacent moving loads on the dynamic behaviours of the continuous railway and the discontinuous railway is studied. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.