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The main objective of the present research is to investigate the benefits of using geogrid reinforcement in minimizing the rate of deterioration of ballasted rail track geometry resting on soft clay and to explore the effect of load amplitude, load frequency, presence of geogrid layer in ballast layer and ballast layer thickness on the behavior of track system. These variables are studied both experimentally and numerically. This paper examines the effect of geogrid reinforced ballast laying on a layer of clayey soil as a subgrade layer, where a half full scale railway tests are conducted as well as a theoretical analysis is performed.

The experimental tests work consists of laboratory model tests to investigate the reduction in the compressibility and stress distribution induced in soft clay under a ballast railway reinforced by geogrid reinforcement subjected to dynamic load. Experimental model based on an approximate half scale for general rail track engineering practice is adopted in this study which is used in Iraqi railways. The investigated parameters are load amplitude, load frequency and presence of geogrid reinforcement layer. A half full-scale railway was constructed for carrying out the tests, which consists of two rails 800 mm in length with three wooden sleepers (900 mm × 90 mm × 90 mm). The ballast was overlying 500 mm thick clay layer. The tests were carried out with and without geogrid reinforcement, the tests were carried out in a well tied steel box of 1.5 m length × 1 m width × 1 m height. A series of laboratory tests were conducted to investigate the response of the ballast and the clay layers where the ballast was reinforced by a geogrid. Settlement in ballast and clay, was measured in reinforced and unreinforced ballast cases. In addition to the laboratory tests, the application of numerical analysis was made by using the finite element program PLAXIS 3D 2013.

It was concluded that the settlement increased with increasing the simulated train load amplitude, there is a sharp increase in settlement up to the cycle 500 and after that, there is a gradual increase to level out between, 2,500 and 4,500 cycles depending on the load frequency. There is a little increase in the induced settlement when the load amplitude increased from 0.5 to 1 ton, but it is higher when the load amplitude increased to 2 ton, the increase in settlement depends on the geogrid existence and the other studied parameters. Both experimental and numerical results showed the same behavior. The effect of load frequency on the settlement ratio is almost constant after 500 cycles. In general, for reinforced cases, the effect of load frequency on the settlement ratio is very small ranging between 0.5 and 2% compared with the unreinforced case.

Increasing the ballast layer thickness from 20 cm to 30 cm leads to decrease the settlement by about 50%. This ascertains the efficiency of ballast in spreading the waves induced by the track.

The purpose of this work is to optimize the monitoring of vibrations on dynamometric test rigs for railway brakes. This is a quite demanding application considering the continuous increase of performances of high-speed trains that involve higher testing specifications for brake pads and disks.

In this work, authors propose a mixed approach in which relatively simple finite element models are used to support the optimization of a diagnostic system that is used to monitor vibration levels and rotor-dynamical behavior of the machine. The model is calibrated with experimental data recorded on the same rig that must be identified and monitored. The whole process is optimized to not interfere with normal operations of the rig, using common inertial sensor and tools and are available as standard instrumentation for this kind of applications. So at the end all the calibration activities can be performed normally without interrupting the activities of the rig introducing additional costs due to system unavailability.

Proposed approach was able to identify in a very simple and fast way the vibrational behavior of the investigated rig, also giving precious information concerning the anisotropic behavior of supports and their damping. All these data are quite difficult to be found in technical literature because they are quite sensitive to assembly tolerances and to many other factors. Dynamometric test rigs are an important application widely diffused for both road and rail vehicles. Also proposed procedure can be easily extended and generalized to a wide value of machine with horizontal rotors.

Most of the studies in literature are referred to electrical motors or turbomachines operating with relatively slow transients and constant inertial properties. For investigated machines both these conditions are not verified, making the proposed application quite unusual and original with respect to current application. At the same time, there is a wide variety of special machines that are usually marginally covered by standard testing methodologies to which the proposed approach can be successfully extended.