Rolling stock and track interaction in High-Speed Railways

The problems of rolling stock and track interaction consist of several elements in a sequence of consecutive phenomena. These are quite complex phenomena containing a number of elements, such as the track as a continuous system supported on sleepers, track imperfections resulting from the geometry of installation and maintenance within proper limits, and quantities subject to deformation and wear processes resulting from operation. All these quantities are extremely important for their impact on rolling stock moving at high speeds.The next element is the direct interaction between the rail head and the wheel; in this area, several problems can be mentioned, such as: elements of Hertzian theory, problems of plastic and elastic phenomena, three types of microslip, and issues of wear of both the rail head and wheel rims. All these phenomena affect the dynamics of a vehicle moving along the track.
In the following part, I will present the concepts signaled above, providing basic substantive formulas and possibilities for conducting research on these issues. The breadth of the subject allows only for signaling the issues and drawing attention to several possibilities for solving the occurring problems.
2. ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING THE DESCRIPTION OF PHENOMENA IN THE TRACK AND IN THE WHEEL-RAIL CONTACT
The basic quantities occurring in the track that contribute to dynamic phenomena in the entire system are related to the track geometry. In order to be able to uniformly describe all phenomena in the track and the vehicle, it is necessary to adopt a common coordinate system for the parameters characterizing the track geometry and the description of the movement of individual masses of the rail vehicle. (…)

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