Keywords: train speed, subgrade, critical velocity, dynamic analysis, finite element.

High speed rail travel, as a fast connection between high-density population areas and as an alternative to frequently-overloaded air connections, is gaining increasingly in significance all over the world. In the face of growing train speeds, critical views of life-cycle coasts and the significantly increased requirements of the conventional ballast tracks, there is an increasing demand for concrete track systems which have a long lifetime, low service and maintenance costs and which also guarantee travel safety and comfort. However, it has been revealed that the increased speeds of modern trains are normally accompanied with increasing transient movements of the rail and ground, which are especially high when train speeds approach some critical wave velocities in the track-ground system.

In this paper, the dynamic performance of the subsoil material in both ballasted track and slab track is analyzed by means of a comprehensive two dimensional finite element dynamic model of the train-track system. The use of the commercial ABAQUS program makes it possible by coupling the vehicle and track in a reliable way which allows for the analysis of dynamic effects in the appropriate train speed range.

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