The response of a layered half-space to traffic loads moving along its surface (Q1307739)

The authors present an analysis of a railway system which includes three interacting subsystems: (I) the vehicle producing the dynamic load; (II) the rail construction, and (III) the subsoil. The passive subsystems, (II) and (III), are viewed as linear layered half-spaces. Mainly, the approach is based on a triple Fourier transform, two of them with respect to horizontal coordinates \((x\) and \(y)\), and the third with respect to \(t\) (the time). Dynamic equilibrium subjected to adequate boundary conditions is described by a set of equations including \(z\) (the soil depth along which inhomogeneity can occur). Finite element method allows to obtain a solution in the transformed domain. Instead of using an inverse Fourier transform, which needs a large amount of computation, wavelet transforms are used in order to reduce the essential data. Finally, the inverse Fourier transform is applied to the dual wavelets. The load displacement is thus transferred into the transform domain, using the fact that the displacement induces transform \(\omega\to \omega-k_xc\), where \(k_x\) is the wave number corresponding to the Fourier transform with respect to \(x\), and \(c\) is the (constant) velocity of the load (vehicle). Some numerical simulations are presented.