Adhesion estimation at the wheel–rail interface using advanced model-based filtering

The railway industry in the UK is currently expanding the use of condition monitoring of railway vehicles. These systems can be used to improve maintenance procedures or could potentially be used to monitor current vehicle running conditions without the use of cost prohibitive sensors. This paper looks at a novel method for the online detection of areas of low adhesion in the wheel/rail contact that cause significant disruption to the running of a network, particularly in the autumn season. The proposed method uses a Kalman–Bucy filter to estimate the creep forces in the wheel–rail contact area; post-processing is then applied to provide information indicative of the actual adhesion level. The algorithm uses data that, in practice, would be available from a set of modest cost inertial sensors mounted on the vehicle bogie and wheel-sets. The efficacy of the approach is demonstrated using simulation data from a nonlinear dynamic model of the vehicle and its track interface.     

Contents Index Volume 35 and 36

Active safety systems would benefit from tyre force and friction potential information. Different sensor concepts, including, among others, the EU–funded Apollo–project developed tyre sensor based on optical position detection, are being studied. The sensor can measure tyre carcass deflections with respect to the rim. The carcass deflections can be used to calculate tyre forces and they may be exploited in the estimation of friction potential. The waveforms of the sensor signal are illustrated. The vertical and lateral force estimations are presented with unavoidable compensation parts. The tyre sensor measurements were compared to the measurement–vehicle results and good correlations achieved. Continuing activities are concerned with the estimation of friction potential and the detection of aquaplaning.     

基于应力松弛试验用有限元预估车辙

为了使车辙预估变得更为简便,提出一种基于应力松弛试验的改进的有限元车辙预估方法。研究结果表明：不仅从粘弹性力学的角度分析,应力松弛试验在理论上与Maxwell模型具有一致性,而且实例计算结果也验证了此方法的可行性。该方法便于不熟悉本构理论的工程人员进行车辙预估。     

Road roughness estimation based on discrete Kalman filter with unknown input

ABSTRACT

The road roughness acts as a disturbance input to the vehicle dynamics, and causes undesirable vibrations associated with the ride and handing characteristics. Furthermore, the accurate measurement of road roughness plays a key role in better understanding a vehicle dynamic behaviour and active suspension control systems. However, the direct measurement by laser profilometer or other distance sensors are not trivial due to technical and economic issues. This study proposes a new road roughness estimation method by using the discrete Kalman filter with unknown input (DKF-UI). This algorithm is built on a quarter-car model and uses the measurements of the wheel stroke (suspension deflection), and the acceleration of the sprung mass and unsprung mass. The estimation results are compared to the measurements by laser profilometer in-vehicle test.     

铁路枢纽折角车流数值变化的动态模拟

以解编车流作业规则和系统资源限制为约束,构造不同目标函数下铁路枢纽编组站作业分工数学模型,给出折角车流理论最大值和最小值及相应编组站作业分工方式及车流条件。基于折角车流变化的复杂性和多样性,将外部车流环境视为一个动态的随机输入,以特定铁路枢纽为背景用计算机模拟技术和遗传算法计算不同条件下折角车流数值解。通过对模拟数据趋势变化比较分析,提出铁路枢纽运输组织不应过分追求折角车流最小等结论。     

内置式永磁同步电动机无传感器速度控制和转子初始位置估计方法的应用及实验研究

针对内置式永磁同步电动机传动提出了一种新的无速度传感器控制和转子初始位置估计方法.在内置式永磁同步电动机旋转过程中,采用扩展卡尔曼滤波方法,仅需测量电机定子的电压和电流,便可得到转速和转子位置的估计值.对内置式永磁同步电动机,采用扩展卡尔曼滤波方法的主要困难在于在静止坐标系中其动态模型的复杂性.由于磁路的不对称性,在静止坐标系中建内置式永磁同步电动机的模型比建表面式永磁同步电动机模型更复杂.在无传感器的传动系统中,电机的起动过程是一个问题,因为在起动之前没有任何信息可以获得.转子初始位置估计是在电机静止时,在瞬间对定子绕组施加合适的电压脉冲序列,通过测量峰值电流获得转子位置信息.利用磁饱和效应对凸极性的影响来区分南北磁极.给出基于浮点数字信号处理器TMS320C31平台得到的内置式永磁同步电动机实验结果.     

Performance estimation model of a torque converter part I: Correlation between the internal flow field and energy loss coefficient

The objective of this paper is to improve the performance estimation model of the internal flow field of a torque converter. Compared with performance experiment results, the converter based on the one-dimensional model does not satisfy the performance requirements demanded in practice. Therefore, we need to develop more predictable and reliable performance estimation models. In order to obtain shape information on three-dimensional blade geometry, a process of reverse engineering conducts a torque converter assembly, impeller, turbine and stator. In addition, a CFD simulation including mesh generation and post-processing was carried out to extract equivalent parameters from the internal flow field. The internal flow field can be explained by analyze the correlation between a performance estimation model and CFD analysis. The equivalent performance model adopts the variation of energy loss coefficients for a given operating condition according to the application of a changing energy loss coefficient by the least mean squares method. The estimated equivalent model improves the agreement in performance between experiments and the theoretical model. This model can reduce the error to within about 3 percent. Furthermore, this procedure for predicted performance achieves eminence in the estimation of the capacity factor.     

Real-time freeway traffic state estimation based on extended Kalman filter: Adaptive capabilities and real data testing

This paper reports on real data testing of a real-time freeway traffic state estimator, with a particular focus on its adaptive capabilities. The pursued general approach to the real-time adaptive estimation of complete traffic state in freeway stretches or networks is based on stochastic macroscopic traffic flow modeling and extended Kalman filtering. One major innovative feature of the traffic state estimator is the online joint estimation of important model parameters (free speed, critical density, and capacity) and traffic flow variables (flows, mean speeds, and densities), which leads to three significant advantages of the estimator: (1) avoidance of prior model calibration; (2) automatic adaptation to changing external conditions (e.g. weather and lighting conditions, traffic composition, control measures); (3) enabling of incident alarms. These three advantages are demonstrated via suitable real data testing. The achieved testing results are satisfactory and promising for subsequent applications.     

Vehicle response-based track geometry assessment using multi-body simulation

The assessment of the geometry of railway tracks is an indispensable requirement for safe rail traffic. Defects which represent a risk for the safety of the train have to be identified and the necessary measures taken. According to current standards, amplitude thresholds are applied to the track geometry parameters measured by recording cars. This geometry-based assessment has proved its value but suffers from the low correlation between the geometry parameters and the vehicle reactions. Experience shows that some defects leading to critical vehicle reactions are underestimated by this approach. The use of vehicle responses in the track geometry assessment process allows identifying critical defects and improving the maintenance operations. This work presents a vehicle response-based assessment method using multi-body simulation. The choice of the relevant operation conditions and the estimation of the simulation uncertainty are outlined. The defects are identified from exceedances of track geometry and vehicle response parameters. They are then classified using clustering methods and the correlation with vehicle response is analysed. The use of vehicle responses allows the detection of critical defects which are not identified from geometry parameters.     

航空发动机污染物排放量估算方法

借助发动机性能模型, 研究了发动机性能退化对氮氧化物(NO_x)、一氧化碳(CO)、未燃碳氢化合物(UHC)与碳烟颗粒(Soot)排放的影响, 提出了基于飞行参数与发动机性能模型的污染物排放总量估算方法。利用ICAO排放数据拟合得到发动机地面状态下的参考排放指数, 利用相对法模型得到飞行状态下的排放指数, 根据航班飞行参数和发动机性能模型估算航班污染物排放总量。研究结果表明: 性能退化对污染物的排放指数影响较大, 仅考虑进对燃油消耗量的影响, 性能退化对NO_x排放总量的影响较小, 但会引起CO、UHC与Soot排放总量的上升。执行中短途航班的双发民航飞机的NO_x排放总量最高约为100kg, 其次为CO, 约为20kg, 而UHC和Soot的排放总量较低, 小于1kg。老化发动机的CO、UHC与Soot的排放总量增加约为10%, 而NO_x排放总量增加约为2%。