ABSTRACT
Recent railway tracks are being designed for traffic speed larger than 350 km/h. This amazing increase of the traffic speed leads to new geotechnical challenges, since the train speed can achieve values close to the wave propagation velocity in the ground, giving rise to the so called “critical speed problem”. The present paper approaches this problem focusing on geotechnical engineering. The departing point is the theoretical formulation of the critical speed problem of a moving load on the surface of an elastic solid. From the usage of 2.5D detailed models it was possible to understand the influence of the embankment and of slab track properties on the critical speed.
