Analysis on the influencing factors of mechanical characteristics of jointless turnout group in ballasted track of high-speed railway

Turnouts are in close proximity to each other in the stations of high-speed railway. The stress and deformation of those turnouts which are laid nearby are influenced mutually and therefore those turnouts should be considered together. On the basis of finite element method, according to No. 18 jointless turnout with swing nose frog in the ballasted track of high-speed railway, a finite element calculating model of jointless turnout group coupling the longitudinal, lateral and vertical directions is established. The influencing factors, for instance the number of turnouts, connection form, length of intermediate straight line and ballast bed longitudinal resistance, on the mechanical characteristics of turnout, transverse deformation of switch rail and range of rail temperature for laying turnout are analyzed in this paper. The results show that more turnouts result in more obvious interaction between them when the lengths of intermediate straight line are the same; more significant influence between the turnouts with the connection form of head-to-head is produced compared to that of head-to-end; from the perspective of statics, influence between turnouts could be ignored basically if the intermediate straight line is over 50 m; bigger longitudinal resistance of ballast bed leads to less influence between the turnouts.