Sensitivity analysis applied to a dynamic railroad model

An analytical method of analyzing sensitivity is presented. It is shown that in a special case, when the dynamical problem is described by differential equations (of any order) with constant coefficients, first and second order semilogarithmic (semirelative) sensitivity functions can be determined analytically. The method is applied to the practical problem of railway track vibration, with the intention of using it for the identification of railway track model parameters in the future. The railway track model is an infinite beam resting on multi-parameter viscoelastic subsoil.