The research presented in this thesis is aimed at developing a limit state design methodology for railway track for recommendation to Standards Australia's next revision of the 'Permanent way materials: prestressed concrete sleepers' code (AS1085.14, 2003). There is widespread suspicion that the railway track, particularly concrete sleepers, have untapped reserves of strength that has potential engineering and economic advantages for track owners. Through quantifying the effects of train speed, wheel impact loadings and distribution of vehicle loads, track engineers would be able to design railway track more accurately and hence uncover the reserves of strengths in railway track. To achieve this improvement a comprehensive set of wheel/rail impact measurements has been collected over a one year period to establish a distribution of track loadings. The wheel/rail impact data collected showed a logarithmically linear distribution which shows that impact forces are randomly occurring events. The linearity of the data also allows for wheel/rail impact forces to be forecasted allowing for a more rational risk based design of the railway track. To help with an investigation of the influence of changes to train operation on the wheel/rail impact force distributions, development of a new dynamic track computer model capable of simulating the complex interaction between the train and track was completed within this research. The model known as DTRACK (Dynamic analysis of rail TRACK) was benchmarked against other dynamic models and field data to validate its outputs. The field measurements and DTRACK simulations became the basis for development of a limit state design methodology for railway track (risk based approach) for railway track in place of an allowable limit state (compliance based) approach. This new approach will allow track owners to assess the track capacity based on more realistic loads and is expected to allow an increase in the capacity of existing track infrastructure which will allow railways to be more commercially competitive and viable.

A Doppler LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR or lidar) system is studied for the application of measuring train ground speed in a non-contacting manner, as an alternative to the current train speed measurement devices such as wheel-mounted tachometers or encoders. The ability to accurately measure train speed and distance is a critical part of monitoring track geometry conditions. Wheel-mounted tachometer speed measurements often fluctuate due to wheel vibrations, change in wheel diameter, or wheel slip affecting the measurement accuracy.  Frequent calibrations are needed to account for changes in wheel diameter due to wear.  Additionally, the high levels of vibrations at the wheel can cause occasional mechanical failure of the encoder.   This thesis examines LIDAR as a non-contact train speed measurement device as a direct retrofit for wheel-mounted encoders. LIDAR uses Doppler technology to accurately measure train speed. The LIDAR system consists of two laser sensors and can be installed on either the car body or the truck on the underside of the train. The sensors measure the true ground speed of each rail, from which the track curvature can then be assessed based on the difference between the right and left rail speeds. The LIDAR train speed, distance, and curvature results are then evaluated against encoder readings and other conventional train measurement devices. Various tests were performed, including field-testing onboard a track geometry railcar operated by Norfolk Southern for evaluating the efficacy, accuracy, and durability of the LIDAR system; and laboratory tests on a 40-foot rail panel for assessing the ability to obtain measurements at super low speeds. The test results indicate that when compared with other conventional means used by the railroad industry, LIDAR is capable of accurately measuring train speed and distance from speeds as slow as 0.3 mph and up to 100 mph.  Additionally, the curvature  measurements proved to be as accurate as Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) that are commonly used in track geometry measurement railcars. / Master of Science

Trafikverket, the Swedish Transport Administration, has been commissioned by the Swedishgovernment to make plans for new railway mainlines between the country’s three largest cities:Stockholm and Gothenburg/Malm¨o. The planned operating speed of the new mainlines isbetween 250–320 km/h. Train traffic at such high speeds across areas with soft soils may lead tolarge amplifications of the train induced ground vibrations, a phenomenon known as the groundvibration boom. The first observation of this phenomenon in practice occurred in Sweden in 1997,at the site Ledsg˚ard on the West Coast Line. This observation led to extensive investigationsand research. One of the research projects consisted of the development of the numerical calculationsoftware VibTrain by the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, through which high speedtrain induced ground vibrations could be analyzed.The aim of this thesis has been to investigate whether VibTrain also could be used in planningworks for the new mainlines, specifically with respect to (i) evaluating the risk of the groundvibration boom and (ii) designing soil improvement measures. The investigation was conductedthrough calculations using the VibTrain software in three separate parts: (i) a verification of Vib-Train’s function on a modern computer by comparison with previous analyses for the Ledsg˚ardcase, (ii) a parametric study of the calculation model used in VibTrain and (iii) a comparison ofresults from VibTrain with results from the calculation software ωFE-N (¨Ulker-Kaustell 2016)for the location J¨arnasl¨atten in Ostl¨anken, a section of the new mainlines.The main findings from these calculations were:• The use of VibTrain on a modern computer worked well, and the verification of the program’sfunction through comparison with the Ledsg˚ard case yielded consistent results.• Modeling of soil improvement measures in the form of lime cement columns in VibTrain,using the method of equivalent modulus, gave results which principally agreed with theexpected behavior.• The comparison with results from the calculation software ωFE-N showed that the twoprograms agreed relatively well for a case with unimproved subgrade. In the analyzedcases with improved subgrade there were larger discrepancies, due to different modelingstrategies being used in the two programs.Based on the performed calculations, it is evident that VibTrain is best suited for initial assessmentsof the risk of the ground vibration boom. However, the calculation model is not sufficientlydetailed to be used in the design of soil improvement measures for the subgrade.

Comme dans d'autres pays européens, en France, les lignes classiques constituent la plupart du réseau ferroviaire (94%) et elles sont généralement âgées de plus d'un siècle. Aujourd'hui, on est demandé d’améliorer les réseaux pour faire face à une augmentation de la charge du trafic et de la vitesse de service. Dans ce contexte, ce travail de thèse vise à étudier expérimentalement l'influence de la vitesse et de la charge sur le comportement dynamique des matériaux constituant les voies classiques, à travers à la fois le suivi «in-situ» et des essais en laboratoire. Pour les études «in-situ», une section de ligne représentative du réseau classique a été sélectionnée dans le réseau français. Le site choisi a fait l’objet d’une prospection géophysique et géotechnique, ce qui a permis de définir les propriétés géotechniques des différents sols constituant la plateforme. L’impact de la vitesse du train et la charge à l'essieu sur la contrainte verticale, déflection/déformation, et en particulier leurs amplifications ont été évalués avec l’augmentation de la vitesse d’un train d'essai Intercités roulant à des vitesses différentes de 60 km/h à 200 km/h et les différentes charges à l'essieu appliquées par des voitures de passagers et la locomotive. Une analyse statistique est aussi réalisée afin d'évaluer la variabilité de la réponse de la voie et leur amplification dynamique avec la vitesse, en se basant sur les données enregistrées lors des passages de trains commerciaux. On observe que l’'amplification dynamique de la réponse de la voie due à la vitesse des trains est directement liée au rapport entre la vitesse des trains et la vitesse des ondes de surface du site. Un matériau représentative du sol intermédiaire des voies classiques a été préparé et testé dans une cellule triaxiale cyclique pour étudier son comportement mécanique. Deux types de charges, de forme sinusoïdale et de forme M, ont été appliqués et, en outre, deux teneurs en eau ont été examinés. Des variations des paramètres dynamiques des sols tels que le module élastique et le rapport d’amortissement avec le nombre de cycles ont été évalués, et les effets des paramètres de chargement tels que la forme de la charge, l'amplitude de la charge et la fréquence de charge ont été étudiés. L'effet de la teneur en eau a été étudié également. Il a été observé que la réponse de l'énergie développée pendant le chargement cyclique est un paramètre qui gouverne le comportement mécanique des sols à petit et grand nombre de cycles. En outre, la charge en forme sinusoïdale a été trouvée plus agressive que celle en forme de M parce que ce chargement sinusoïdal développe plus d'énergie, engendrant ainsi plus de déformations permanentes du sol à grand nombre de cycles, particulièrement le cas lorsque le sol est saturé. A partir des résultats obtenus sur le terrain et en laboratoire, deux modèles analytiques en 2-D ont été développés permettant de décrire la distribution de contrainte verticale et la propagation des déflections verticales. Certains paramètres mécaniques tels que les modules élastiques des couches de la voie, leurs rapports d'amortissement, leurs épaisseurs, ainsi que la vitesse moyenne des ondes de surface dans la section de voie considérée se sont révélés être les principaux paramètres contrôlant le comportement dynamique de la voie. Une comparaison entre les mesures effectuées sur le terrain et les résultats des essais en laboratoire a été également réalisée. La réponse de la voie sous différents types de trains, TER et TGV avec des charges équivalentes mais avec différentes configurations spatiales des essieux, est présentée. On observe que la réponse en énergie est plus élevée pour TGV que pour TER. Cette plus grande énergie développée suggère une plus grande agressivité vis-à-vis de la structure de la voie. Ainsi, la réponse en énergie est un indicateur important à prendre en compte lors d’un suivi du comportement mécanique d’une voie / As in other European countries, in France the conventional lines constitute the main part of the whole railway network (94%) and they are generally over a century old. Nowadays, facing the demand of upgrading both the traffic load and speed, it is of paramount importance to acquire good knowledge on the corresponding impact on the mechanical behaviour of tracks, at both short and long terms. In this context, this PhD work aims at investigating the influence of train speed and axle load on the dynamic behaviour of materials constituting the conventional track-beds, through both ‘in-situ’ monitoring and laboratory testing. For the field monitoring, a representative track was selected from the French conventional network following well-defined criteria. The selected site underwent a geophysical and geotechnical prospection, allowing the site critical speed and the geotechnical properties of different soils constituting the track-bed to be determined. The first data allowed assessing the influence of the track state conditions and the traffic loading on the measurements of each sensor. The train speed and axle load impacts on the vertical stress, deflection/strain, in particular their amplifications with speed increase were evaluated based on the data with an Intercity test train running at different speeds from 60 km/h to 200 km/h and the different axle loads applied by Coaches (105 kN/axle) and Locomotive (225 kN/axle). A statistical analysis was made to assess the variability of track response and their dynamic amplification with speed based on the data with passages of commercial trains. The dynamic amplification of track response due to train speed was found to be directly related to the ratio of train speed to the surface wave velocity. The laboratory test conditions were defined based on the field measurements. A material representative of an interlayer soil was prepared and tested in a large-scale cyclic triaxial cell to investigate its mechanical behaviour. Both Sine-shaped and M-shaped loads were applied and in addition, two water contents were considered. The variations of dynamic parameters such as resilient modulus and damping ratio with number of cycles were assessed, and the effects of loading parameters such as consolidation pressure, load shape, load amplitude and load frequency were investigated. The effect of water content was studied as well. It was observed that the response of energy developed during cyclic loading is an important parameter controlling the soil mechanical behaviour at both small and large numbers of cycles. Also, the Sine-shaped loading was found more aggressive than M-shaped loading since the former results in higher energy and therefore larger soil deformation. This is particularly the case when the soil is saturated. Based on the results obtained in the field and laboratory, two 2-D analytical models were developed allowing the description of vertical stress and vertical deflection transmissions in track-beds. Some mechanical parameters such as the moduli of track-bed layers, their damping ratios, thicknesses as well as the average track surface wave velocity were found to be the key parameters governing the track dynamic behaviour. A comparison between field and laboratory results was also made. The track response to the loading by different train types, considering equivalent loads but different spatial loading configurations from TER and TGV train axles is presented. It was found that for each monitored position in the track, the response energy was higher for TGV than for TER. This larger developed energy suggests a higher aggressiveness to the track structure. Thus, the energy response is a key indicator to be taken into account when performing a track mechanical behaviour monitoring