Keywords: turnout, switches and crossings, railroad track, vehicle-track interaction, finite element method, multi-body dynamic simulation.

Railway turnouts are crucial elements of railway networks. They are subjected to severe dynamic interactions due to rapid variations in wheel-rail contact, leading to high dynamic forces and potential damage mechanisms such as wear, plastic deformation, and rolling contact fatigue. Therefore, the design of these components must account for high-frequency train-track interactions. This study validates the design of a high-speed turnout with a movable point rail by analysing the dynamic responses and estimating the maximum stresses of critical components considering different trains and different running conditions. A three-step numerical approach is used to simplify the three-dimensional critical components with complex shapes, simulate the dynamic interaction using a FE-multibody simplified system and calculate the stresses on critical components. This procedure also considers non-linear large-scale kinematic constraints. The results, compared to experimental data, show good agreements in terms of displacements, accelerations, and stresses, demonstrating that this multi-stage approach effectively estimates the most stressed elements and areas of a turnout, providing predictive insights into turnout behaviour under varying operational conditions.

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