Track damage prediction in turnouts using a whole system model

Railway turnouts feature discontinuities in wheel-rail contact geometry and track stiffness. These discontinuities result in large dynamic wheel-rail contact forces, leading to a degradation of the rail surfaces and track irregularities over time. Currently, researchers focus mostly on one damage mechanism at the
time (for example in [1]–[3] ), however, the interplay and interconnection between different track damage patterns have not yet been addressed to the same extent. The aim of this work is therefore to develop and demonstrate a novel methodology that can make such holistic predictions for accumulated track damage in railway turnouts and account for the interplay and interaction between different damage patterns such as the development of track irregularities due to ballast and subsoil settlement, and rail profile changes due to plastic deformation and wear.