Research on dynamic characteristics of railway side-cracked slab for train-track coupled system

The Ballastless track have been extensively implemented in high-speed railways. However, during the long-term operational process, degradation, such as side crack or defect phenomena produced on the slab inevitably, poses a threat to the stability and the durability of the track structure. Consequently, it is imperative to propose a dynamic approach that can effectively predict the impact of side-cracked slab (SCS) on the vehicle-track coupled system. This paper utilizes cosimulation technology to investigate the dynamic behavior of the slab with and without side crack. Firstly, the dynamic substructure of the finite element model of the SCS is obtained by eigenvalue analysis. Secondly, the SCS model has been applied to the classical vehicle-track coupled dynamic system, and the coupled dynamic model of the train-side cracked slab (TSCS) is established, which considers the multi-rigid-body vehicle subsystem, the flexible rail subsystem, the flexible SCS and subgrade foundation subsystem, and the wheel-rail nonlinear contact model. Later, the accuracy and reliability of the proposed model are verified by the comparison with field tests. Finally, the differences in the vibration characteristics of the vehicle and track structure with and without a side crack are compared and analyzed, and its dynamic stress of the slab as variable train speeds is revealed. The results indicate that the existence of a side crack will reduce the natural frequency of the slab, with a maximum decrease of 22.31%. Although the SCS has a minor effect on the vehicle responses, the existence of a side crack has a significant impact on the slab, especially on the root mean square (RMS) of the vibration acceleration of the slab, with a maximum difference of 74.10% laterally and an increase of 55.16% vertically. Meanwhile, the train speed remarkably affects the crack tip dynamic stress of the SCS, with a maximum increase of 76.07% in the longitudinal direction, 50.34% in the lateral direction and 49.09% in the vertical direction. Higher train speeds will further exacerbate crack propagation under long-term train loading. This study may contribute to the dynamic modeling of TSCS systems and the maintenance of the slab ballastless track.