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Effect of wheelset flexibility on wheel–rail contact behavior and a specific coupling of wheel–rail contact to flexible wheelset

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Abstract

The flexibility of a train’s wheelset can have a large effect on vehicle–track dynamic responses in the medium to high frequency range. To investigate the effects of wheelset bending and axial deformation of the wheel web, a specific coupling of wheel–rail contact with a flexible wheelset is presented and integrated into a conventional vehicle–track dynamic system model. Both conventional and the proposed dynamic system models are used to carry out numerical analyses on the effects of wheelset bending and axial deformation of the wheel web on wheel–rail rolling contact behaviors. Excitations with various irregularities and speeds were considered. The irregularities included measured track irregularity and harmonic irregularities with two different wavelengths. The speeds ranged from 200 to 400 km/h. The results show that the proposed model can characterize the effects of flexible wheelset deformation on the wheel–rail rolling contact behavior very well.

Graphical Abstract

Wheelset flexibility has a significant effect on vehicle–track dynamic responses in the medium to high frequency range. To investigate the effects of wheelset bending and axial deformation of the wheel web, a specific coupling of wheel–rail contact with a flexible wheelset is presented and integrated into a conventional vehicle–track dynamic system model. Both the conventional and proposed dynamic system models are used to analyze the effect of the wheelset bending and the axial deformation of wheel web on the wheel–rail rolling contact behaviors.

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Acknowledgments

The present work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant 2011CB711103), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants U1134202, U1361117), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT1178), the 2014 Doctoral Innovation Funds of Southwest Jiaotong University, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Traction Power, Southwest Jiaotong University, No. 111, First Section, North of Second Ring Road, Chengdu, 610031, China

    Shuoqiao Zhong, Xinbiao Xiao, Zefeng Wen & Xuesong Jin

Authors
  1. Shuoqiao Zhong
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  2. Xinbiao Xiao
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  3. Zefeng Wen
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  4. Xuesong Jin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xuesong Jin.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Appendix 1

See Table 1.

Table 1 Vehicle and track parameters
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1.2 Appendix 2

See Table 2.

Table 2 Quantities involved in derivation of equations of motion of wheelset bending
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Zhong, S., Xiao, X., Wen, Z. et al. Effect of wheelset flexibility on wheel–rail contact behavior and a specific coupling of wheel–rail contact to flexible wheelset. Acta Mech. Sin. 32, 252–264 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-015-0441-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-015-0441-6

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