Wave propagation in a stochastic media: dispersion curves for a ballasted railway track

This paper discusses the dynamical behavior of a randomly-fluctuating heterogeneous continuum model of the ballast. The Young’s modulus is modeled as a random field parameterized by its average, its variance and a correlation model. A numerical model of the ballast and the surrounding soil is then constructed based on an explicit spectral element solver. This model allows to describe numerically the wave field generated, as well as to construct dispersion relation for the ballast-soil model. The influence of heterogeneity is discussed by comparison with a similar homogeneous model.