Designing of Track Axis Alignment with the Use of Satellite Measurements and Particle Swarm Optimization

Abstract

Designing of the track’s alignment is a key issue from the point of view of maintaining of proper geometries. The paper presents a design method for sections of railway line located in the horizontal arch. The method is adapted to the technique of mobile satellite measurements. The general principles of this measurement method have been described in the article. A project's solution has been presented using mathematical notation in a form of the set of universal equations describing the whole geometrical layout which was analyzed. The design procedure lets to varying both the types and lengths of transition curves. Calculation algorithm has been implemented in Scilab environment and the basic features and functions of the algorithm has been presented. The implemented algorithm allows for generating various variants until the acceptation of main parameters of designed layouts. Moreover, the geometrical parameters could be determined in the process of multi-criteria optimization. Considering the process of alignment design, it has been assumed to achieve the highest possible trains speed together with the minimizing of the track dislocations. The optimization process is supported by the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO). The presented method enables for relatively fast satellite measurements data processing as well as helps to reconstruct the model of a real route location. Therefore, this can be a basis for taking an appropriate action in modernization problems. A new concept of the designing of the track axis adjustment has been illustrated by a particular example of the calculations.