Keywords: multibody simulations, switch, crossing, flexible track, measurements.

A so-called Whole System Model (WSM) for railway switches and crossings (S&C) is currently under development within the European research program Shift2Rail. The objective of the WSM is that it should allow for holistic simulation-based evaluation of S&C designs and ultimately provide input for Life Cycle Cost analysis and virtual homologation. At the centre of the WSM is a multibody simulation (MBS) model that evaluates the dynamic vehicle-track interaction for a given S&C design and traffic situation and generates wheel-rail contact quantities and structural responses for the following damage calculations. This paper is focused on the MBS model and present developments for a finite element track model of an S&C crossing panel. The developments concern the model itself and a calibration to measurement data from a comprehensively instrumented S&C demonstrator installed as a part of Shift2Rail activities in the Austrian railway network. The presented track model demonstrates an overall good agreement between measurements and simulation after minor and physical track parameter adjustments. A very good agreement is obtained at the center of the crossing panel at the crossing transition while discrepancies are found across the track along the sleeper that goes underneath the crossing transition. It is hypothesized that this discrepancy is due to variations in ballast stiffness distribution under the investigated sleeper. It is concluded that the presented track model can represent the track dynamics well enough to fulfil its function within the Whole System Modelling scheme.

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