Paul Haberl will focus in particular on the numerical investigation of the long-term deformation behaviour of railway infrastructure under high cyclic loading from rail traffic. The focus will be on the analysis of stress and deformation states and the prediction of permanent settlements to assess the serviceability of railway embankments and superstructure constructions under realistic operating conditions.

The dynamic calculations and long-term simulations required for this will be carried out using the finite element programme numgeo and further developed on the basis of the high-cycle accumulation model (HCA model) to enable a design-oriented assessment of the long-term serviceability of railway infrastructure.