Abstract

The development of high-speed train lines has increased during the last twenty years, leading to more demanding loads in railway infrastructures. For these reasons, a discrete element model of granular material was carried out using 3D spherical particles with a rolling resistance, in order to consider non-sphericity of ballast stones. Other discrete element model representing granular materials as sphere aggregates (sphere clusters) has been also implemented. Current work presents the methodology followed to develop the discrete element model able to calculate railway ballast interaction. Interaction between discrete and finite elements is another key point of the calculations that is addressed. This document displays some results evaluating the influence of material parameters and geometric representation in the simulation of railway ballast and presents some laboratory tests calculated with the numerical application developed.