Consequences of Nonlinear Characteristics of a Secondary Suspension in a Three-Piece Freight Car Bogie

Mechanical systems with nonlinear characteristics can show a complex dynamic behavior that should be taken into account when analysing dynamic performance and reliability. The dynamic behavior of the main suspension in a three-piece freight car bogie with constant friction damping is considered in this work. The aim is to investigate the vertical behavior of a specific suspension design due to different driving conditions, weather and wear of the friction wedges. A variation in weather and wear is represented by different friction configurations in the model of the suspension. Models of different levels of detail that are based on experimental data on existing designs are developed. It is found that the suspension performance is very sensitive to variations of the friction configuration and this indicates a possible presence of nonlinear dynamic phenomena at in service like conditions.     

Consequences of Nonlinear Characteristics of a Secondary Suspension in a Three-Piece Freight Car Bogie

Mechanical systems with nonlinear characteristics can show a complex dynamic behavior that should be taken into account when analysing dynamic performance and reliability. The dynamic behavior of the main suspension in a three-piece freight car bogie with constant friction damping is considered in this work. The aim is to investigate the vertical behavior of a specific suspension design due to different driving conditions, weather and wear of the friction wedges. A variation in weather and wear is represented by different friction configurations in the model of the suspension. Models of different levels of detail that are based on experimental data on existing designs are developed. It is found that the suspension performance is very sensitive to variations of the friction configuration and this indicates a possible presence of nonlinear dynamic phenomena at in service like conditions.     

Three-dimensional derailment analysis of crashed freight trains

In this paper, the collision-induced derailment of freight trains was investigated. The collision between two identical freight trains occurring on a curved path rather than along a straight line was investigated. This is because from the point of view of safety against derailment this collision scenario is thought to be more critical than the scenarios defined in the European standard EN 15227. In this work, one of the trains is stationary and the other moving train collides at 36 km/h. Two kinds of container wagons were simulated. One is the two-axle freight wagon Kls 442. Another is the freight wagon Rmms 662 with two Y25 bogies. Simulation results demonstrate that in terms of safety against derailment the bogie wagon Rmms 662 was found to have better behaviour than the two-axle wagon Kls 442. In addition, this study points out that there are many contributory factors to the responses of freight wagons during a collision, such as curve radius, distance between bogie pivots and loading mass. The derailment phenomenon is less likely to occur, when freight trains collide on the curve with a larger radius. Besides that the characteristics of freight wagons with large axle loads, low centre of gravity of car body and appropriate static strength are favourable for the collided wagons in reducing the risk of derailment.     

铁路重载货车转向架技术应用探究

铁路重载货车转向架为铁路重载运输提供保障.由于铁路重载货车的重载质量不断增加,运行的速度越来越快速,从而造成了轮轨的损坏,这就需要加强对转向架技术的深入研究.对我国铁路重载货车转向架技术发展的历程进行阐述,详细分析了铁路重载货车转向架技术的应用,并对铁路重载货车转向架的发展趋势进行阐述.     

Possibility of jamming and wedging in the three-piece trucks of a moving freight car

Three-piece trucks have some drawbacks, particularly unstable operation of the friction wedge damping system. One of the principal features of systems of this kind is the possibility of jamming and wedging. This work is devoted to mathematical and numerical modeling of the plane motion of a freight car with allowance for the mobility of the wedges and then for the compliance of the contacting bodies and to the study of the conditions for the onset of jamming and wedging when the car is in motion.     

Possibility of jamming and wedging in the three-piece trucks of a moving freight car

Three-piece trucks have some drawbacks, particularly unstable operation of the friction wedge damping system. One of the principal features of systems of this kind is the possibility of jamming and wedging. This work is devoted to mathematical and numerical modeling of the plane motion of a freight car with allowance for the mobility of the wedges and then for the compliance of the contacting bodies and to the study of the conditions for the onset of jamming and wedging when the car is in motion.     

Freight cars shunting impacts analysis using an improved dynamic model of friction draft gear

In this study, simulations of shunting impacts for groups of freight cars that include up to six cars are considered. The simulation technique employs a white-box improved dynamic model of friction draft gear considering all its components and detailed finite element models of the freight cars. The key differences between the one-to-one shunting impact and the impact of long groups of cars in terms of features of the draft gear deflections and the coupler force time history are discussed. We present an example of dynamic finite element analysis for the car body using the coupler force time history obtained from the shunting impact simulation.     

Dynamic simulations of the freight three-piece bogie motion in curve

A loaded freight vehicle with two three-piece bogies is modelled using the accessible mathematical software MATLAB. The results are compared with its corresponding ADAMS/Rail dynamic multibody simulation model, where similar derailment factors are encountered for the freight vehicle. Both models reveal that the possibility of derailment increases immediately after entering and at the end of the curve – signifying the beginning and the end of the curve as two major points for derailment. Although a three-piece bogie construction is rather simple, its mathematical model proves to be very complex and is nonlinear due to the reported frictional contact at the rail/wheel interface as well as the friction wedges. This research is stimulated by bogie derailments that have occurred in the Iranian railways as well as those in the rest of the world.     

Fatigue Life Prediction of a Railway Bogie under Dynamic Loads through Simulation

For dynamically loaded lightweight structures fatigue strength is an important design criteria. In this paper a new method to predict fatigue lifetime is shown. This is based on the combination of frequency domain and time domain calculations, which allows lifetime prediction with reduced computational effort. The method is implemented to work in a concurrent engineering software environment together with a computer aided design (CAD), a finite-element-method (FEM) and a multibody system (MBS) program. The benefits of the new approach are demonstrated by application to the bogie of a freight locomotive. The dynamic loads acting on the bogie are computed by multibody simulation. The bogie frame is considered as an elastic body of the MBS and the highly nonlinear wheel rail contact is modeled quasi-elastically. For the ride on a straight track the equations of motion can be linearized and the covariance matrix of the loads is calculated. The ride through a ramp is simulated by using the nonlinear differential equations. FEM yields the stresses in the most stressed locations of the bogie depending on the loads calculated by multibody simulation. Based on these stresses the fatigue life prediction is carried out in the MBS post-processing program FATIGUE.     

Simulation of curving at low speed under high traction for passive steering hauling locomotives

The traction control in modern electric and diesel electric locomotives has allowed rail operators to utilise high traction adhesion levels without undue risk of damage from uncontrolled wheel spin. At the same time, some locomotive manufacturers have developed passive steering locomotive bogies to reduce wheel rail wear and further improve locomotive adhesion performance on curves. High locomotive traction loads in curving are known to cause the loss of steering performance in passive steering bogies. At present there are few publications on the curving performance of locomotive steering with linkage bogies. The most extreme traction curving cases of low speed and high adhesion for hauling locomotives have not been fully investigated, with effects of coupler forces and cant excess being generally ignored. This paper presents a simulation study for three axle bogie locomotives in pusher and pulling train positions on tight curves. The simulation study uses moderate and high traction adhesion levels of 16.6% and 37% for various rail friction conditions. Curving performance is assessed, showing forced steering bogies to have considerable advantages over self steering bogies. Likewise it is shown that self steering bogies are significantly better than yaw relaxation bogies at improving steering under traction. As the required traction adhesion approaches the rail friction coefficient, steering performance of all bogies degrades and yaw of the bogie frame relative to the track increases. Operation with excess cant and tensile coupler forces are both found to be detrimental to the wear performance of all locomotive bogies, increasing the bogie frame yaw angles. Bogie frame pitching is also found to have significant effect on steering, causing increased performance differences between bogie designs.     

Adaptive Control of 4WS System by Using Neural Network

An adaptive control system of the model following type is proposed for drive motion control of a four wheel steering (4WS) car with using neural network (NN) which has mastered nonlinear friction force between tire and road surface. A model of one rigid body is adopted which represents appropriately two kinds of car motion caused by steering action, namely the lateral displacement and the yawing rotation, and an equation of motion is described in a simplified form to make a system equation for motion control possible. Nonlinear relation between the cornering force of tire and the slip angle is obtained by numerical analysis with the tire model proposed by E. Fiala, taking friction coefficient and car speed as the parameters. The result is used as the teaching signal for NN. Three NN are used in the control system composed of both the feed-forward and the feedback circuits in order to realize adaptive control. Validity and usefulness of the proposed adaptive control system with NN are verified by three kinds of computer simulation.     

Adaptive Control of 4WS System by Using Neural Network

SUMMARY

An adaptive control system of the model following type is proposed for drive motion control of a four wheel steering (4WS) car with using neural network (NN) which has mastered nonlinear friction force between tire and road surface. A model of one rigid body is adopted which represents appropriately two kinds of car motion caused by steering action, namely the lateral displacement and the yawing rotation, and an equation of motion is described in a simplified form to make a system equation for motion control possible. Nonlinear relation between the cornering force of tire and the slip angle is obtained by numerical analysis with the tire model proposed by E. Fiala, taking friction coefficient and car speed as the parameters. The result is used as the teaching signal for NN. Three NN are used in the control system composed of both the feed-forward and the feedback circuits in order to realize adaptive control. Validity and usefulness of the proposed adaptive control system with NN are verified by three kinds of computer simulation.     

低地板有轨电车车体设计要点分析

低地板有轨电车作为重要的城市交通运输工具,以其乘客量大、环保节能、更小曲线通过能力和较高的性价比等优势被我国各大城市大量引进[1]。本文从车体结构材料选择、车体间的连接方式及车体与转向架空间关系等方面概述了低地板车辆车体设计的要点,并以100%低地板有轨电车车体设计为例介绍了各个设计阶段采用的仿真、试验方法,为低地板有轨电车车体设计提供支持。     

Comparative stability of bogie vehicles with passive and active guidance as influenced by friction and traction

The stability of four bogie configurations is considered for a range of friction coefficients and traction ratios. The basis of comparison is the vehicle with conventional solid-axle railway wheelsets mounted in bogies with relatively stiff plan-view suspension. As improved performance of the wheelset in guidance can be achieved with various forms of passive and active guidance, bogies with yaw relaxation, with conventional wheelsets and active stabilisation and with independent wheels and active guidance are considered. Stability of each of these configurations is studied using a full nonlinear solution of the equations of motion. It is shown that the stability of the passive bogie configurations is very robust in the presence of traction and braking and variations of friction and that this is also true for an actively guided bogie with independent wheels. However, for a bogie with conventional wheelsets and active stabilisation, creep saturation effects can reduce stability significantly.     

Modeling and Dynamics of Friction Wedge Dampers in Railroad Freight Trucks

A mechanical model for the vertical response of the bolster and friction-wedge suspension elements in a railroad freight truck is developed. The model incorporates linear stiffnesses and dry friction contact between rigid elements. Numerical bifurcation diagrams for sticking events, obtained for parameterizations of the amplitude and frequency of a harmonic track excitation, and for various friction laws, reveal distinct parameter-dependent dynamic responses: strongly nonlinear stick-slip oscillations, observed away from period-1 resonance; and weakly nonlinear, nearly harmonic responses, observed near the period-one resonance. The analytical method of harmonic balance is applied to develop a first order approximation for the period-1 response, and, as should be expected, is found to correspond well with the numerical results in the large amplitude limit and near the resonance location. Given that such weakly nonlinear, large amplitude, period-1 responses are not common for the speeds and system parameters of most freight vehicles, we conclude that friction-wedge models based on some form of equivalent linearization may be inadequate for simulating freight car dynamics in many cases of practical importance.     

Enhancing rail infra durability through freight bogie design

The extensive usage of railway infrastructure demands a high level of robustness, which can be achieved partly by considering (and managing) the track and rolling stock as one integral system with due attention to their interface. A growing number of infra managers consider, in this framework, the track-friendliness of vehicles that have access to their tracks as a key control parameter. The aim of this study is to provide further insight into potential contributions to track-friendliness, assessed in relation to track deterioration mechanisms and cost, understanding how potential benefits are best to be utilised. Six proposed freight bogie design measures are evaluated with respect to the improvement in curving behaviour, switch negotiation and related track degradation mechanisms. To this purpose a sensitivity analysis has been carried out by means of track–train simulations in the VAMPIRE® multi body simulation software. Additionally, the impact on track deterioration costs has been calculated for those track-friendly design modifications identified as most promising. Conclusions show that the standard Y25L freight bogie design displays rather a track-friendly behaviour. Tuning the primary yaw stiffness shows a high potential to further improve track-friendliness, significantly reducing track deterioration cost at narrow radius curves and switches (by, respectively, 30% and 60%). When calculating the overall deterioration cost for the travelled route, the calculation model should include a well-balanced representation of switches and narrow radius curves.     

Influence of some vehicle and track parameters on the environmental vibrations induced by railway traffic

A study is performed on the influence of some typical railway vehicle and track parameters on the level of ground vibrations induced in the neighbourhood. The results are obtained from a previously validated simulation framework considering in a first step the vehicle/track subsystem and, in a second step, the response of the soil to the forces resulting from the first analysis. The vehicle is reduced to a simple vertical 3-dof model, corresponding to the superposition of the wheelset, the bogie and the car body. The rail is modelled as a succession of beam elements elastically supported by the sleepers, lying themselves on a flexible foundation representing the ballast and the subgrade. The connection between the wheels and the rails is realised through a non-linear Hertzian contact. The soil motion is obtained from a finite/infinite element model. The investigated vehicle parameters are its type (urban, high speed, freight, etc.) and its speed. For the track, the rail flexural stiffness, the railpad stiffness, the spacing between sleepers and the rail and sleeper masses are considered. In all cases, the parameter value range is defined from a bibliographic browsing. At the end, the paper proposes a table summarising the influence of each studied parameter on three indicators: the vehicle acceleration, the rail velocity and the soil velocity. It namely turns out that the vehicle has a serious influence on the vibration level and should be considered in prediction models.     

金属陶瓷离合器从动盘的研制

使用金属陶瓷摩擦材料作为离合器从动秀摩擦面片相对于使用有机石棉片来说具有很多优点，金属陶瓷片其摩擦系数大，热稳定性好，在较高的工作温度下，比有机片更耐磨，阐述了金属陶瓷摩擦面从动盘设计参数的确定及结构设计特点，对试制的金属陶瓷从动盘总成做了台架试验和整车试验，试验结果表明，金属陶瓷离合器具有良好的使用操作性能，接合平稳，变速器换档顺利，无颤抖现象。     

汽车离合器常见故障分析及排除

汽车离合器作为传递和切断发动机动力的装置,离合压盘及摩擦片之间经常会处于相对运动状态,因磨损、变形或摩擦副匹配等因素,容易造成离合器故障,如起步抖动、异响、分离不清、打滑烧蚀等,从而影响车辆驾乘舒适性,甚至影响车辆的正常使用,文章通过对离合系统工作原理介绍,结合笔者多年对离合器问题处理的实际工作经验,对离合器常见故障的可能因素进行分析,并提供相应的解决方案。     

基于MATLAB汽车动力学仿真研究

对影响汽车行驶安全的各方面因素进行了较为深入的分析和研究,建立车体6个自由度加上前轮转向系统1个自由度的汽车数学模型;该汽车数学模型不需引入很多的人为假设;可以实现给定汽车前轮转角,也可以不给定前轮转角;不依赖需要复杂测定的侧向力函数及相关模型参数;考虑了轮胎的滚动特性。利用MATLAB语言开发了一个模块化的仿真软件,该软件能够满足所建模型的校验和在特殊工况下的仿真研究;也可以进一步完善该软件使之服务于汽车运行的其他方面的仿真研究。