A general method for calculating the traffic load-induced residual settlement of a platform, based on a structural analysis approach

Abstract : A general computational procedure is developed in this paper for calculating the long term response, and more specifically the evolution with time of the accumulated residual settlement of a traffic platform under the action of repeated vehicle loading. It is based on a structural analysis approach, which incorporates as an essential feature, the use of a cyclic constitutive law for the constituent materials, formulated on the basis of cyclic triaxial tests. A numerical tool has been set up with the help of a finite element code, in order to simulate experimental tests performed on reduced scale models of a railway track platform. A first comparison is being made between the numerical simulations and the experimental results, as regards the long term evolution of the residual settlement.