Probability of derailment under earthquake conditions

A quantitative assessment of the probability of derailment under earthquake conditions is presented. Two derailment modes are considered: by vibratory motion - during the ground motion - and by permanent track deformation - after the motion ended. Criteria for derailment that apply to both modes are derived in terms of peak transversal acceleration and peak transversal displacement. This allows a direct comparison between the two causes of derailment. We find that the first mode of derailment (by vibratory motion) dominates over the second mode (by track damage). The model considers the effect of spatial non-homogeneities in soil and structural characteristic and the incoherence of the ground motion into the assessment of derailment risk. The lateral motion experienced by the train under non-synchronous vibration of the track is obtained as the superposition of two contributions: one is the track motion at a fixed location and the other is the motion as the train travels on deformed tracks. Under linear elastic conditions, a method to obtain the power spectral density function for ground acceleration is presented and used to obtain acceleration and displacement response spectra.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Guillaud, Lucile M. (Lucile Marie)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Daniele Veneziano.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38236

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/38236