Dynamics of high speed wheel/rail system and its modelling

With the fast increasing of train speed the interactions among the train,the track,and the power cate-nary system become very strong. Such interactions are also strongly coupled with the action of high speed airflow due to the high speed running. Hence,the existing research methods and numerical al-gorithms of railway vehicle/track systems are not fully available for characterizing the transient dy-namic and long-term behaviors of train/track at higher speed. The present paper reviews the existing studies on coupling dynamics of railway vehicle/track,and clarifies their advantages and disadvan-tages and then puts forward an innovation stratagem for high speed railway based on rolling contact of wheel/rail systems. In the innovation stratagem,a comprehensive dynamic model of wheels/rails sys-tems is developed to simultaneously consider the track system,the train,the rolling contact of wheel/rail,the catenary/pantograph system,and the high speed airflow with the train. The motion equations of the subsystems and their coupling boundaries are given and discussed. For the reliability and safety of the high speed train in service,the long-term behavior of the structures of the train and the track is considered in the comprehensive model. Moreover,a generalized failure model,consider-ing the structures and the materials and working in the comprehensive dynamic model of wheels/rails system,as well as the simulation system of structure failure of the high speed train/track is established. Consequently,the present studies on the dynamics of the coupled vehicle/track will be further and largely extended.