Résumé
The track deterioration rate is strongly influenced by the ballast behaviour under traffic. In order to restore the initial track geometry, different maintenance processes are performed, like tamping, dynamic stabilisation. A better understanding of the ballast behaviour under these operations on a portion of railway track is a key to optimize the process, to limit degradation and to propose some concept for a better homogeneous compaction. In this work, we focus on the study of tamping process over several sleepers by the numerical simulation using the Non-Smooth Contact Dynamics (NSCD) of three-dimensional Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations improved by a Domain Decomposition Method and Parallel Computation.