Effect of rail corrugation on vertical dynamics of railway vehicle coupled with a track

The effect of rail corrugation on the vertical dynamics of railway vehicle coupled with a curved track is investigated in detail with a numerical method when a wheelset is steadily curving. In the calculation of rail corrugation we consider the combination of Kalkers rolling contact theory modified, a model of material loss on rail running surface, and a dynamics model of railway vehicle coupled with a curved track. In the establishment of the dynamic model, for simplicity, one fourth of the freight car without lateral motions, namely a wheelset and the equivalent one fourth freight car body above it, is considered. The Euler beam is used to model the rails and the track structure under the rails is replaced with equivalent springs, dampers and mass bodies. The numerical results show the great influence of the rail corrugation on the vibration of the parts of the vehicle and the track, and the some characters of rail corrugation in development.

Investigation into the Vibration of Metro Bogies Induced by Rail Corrugation

The current research of rail corrugation mainly focuses on the mechanisms of its formation and development. Compared with the root causes and development mechanisms, the wheel-rail impacts, the fatigue failure of vehicle-track parts, and the loss of ride comfort due to rail corrugation should also be taken into account. However, the influences of rail corrugation on vehicle and track vibration, and failure of vehicle and track structural parts are barely discussed in the literature. This paper presents an experimental and numerical investigation of the structural vibration of metro bogies caused by rail corrugation. Extensive experiments are conducted to investigate the effects of short-pitch rail corrugation on the vibration accelerations of metro bogies. A dynamic model of a metro vehicle coupled with a concrete track is established to study the influence of rail corrugation on the structural vibration of metro bogies. The field test results indicate that the short-pitch rail corrugation generates strong vibrations on the axle-boxes and the bogie frames, therefore, accelerates the fatigue failure of the bogie components. The numerical results show that short-pitch rail corrugation may largely reduce the fatigue life of the coil spring, and improving the damping value of the primary vertical dampers is likely to reduce the strong vibration induced by short-pitch rail corrugation. This research systematically studies the effect of rail corrugation on the vibration of metro bogies and proposes some remedies for mitigating strong vibrations of metro bogies and reducing the incidence of failure in primary coil springs, which would be helpful in developing new metro bogies and track maintenance procedures.

EFFECT OF DISCRETE SUPPORTS OF RAIL ON INITIATION AND EVOLUTION OF RAIL CORRUGATION

The effect of discrete support of rail on the formation and evolution of railcorrugation is primarily investigated with numerical method in the situation of wheelset curvingsteadily and repeatedly. In the numerical analysis of corrugation it is considered that acombination of Kalker's rolling contact theory with non-Hertzian to be modified, a linear frictionalwork model and a vertical dynamics model of railway vehicle coupled with a curved track. And theuneven support stiffness of rail in the vertical direction due to discrete sleeper support and thedifferent running speed of the wheelset are taken into consideration. The damage on the runningsurface of rail, concerning rail corrugation formation, is restricted to wear mechanism of railmaterial. The numerical results obtained indicate that the discrete supports of rail by sleepershave a great influence on the formation of the corrugation under the condition of non-zero andstable creepages of wheelset and track.

Experimental and simulation investigation into the cause and treatment of rail corrugation for metro

The cause and treatment of rail corrugation for the metro have always been a popular and challenging issue. In this work, the field measurements were carried out on rail corrugation, track stiffness, and the track dynamic response. A three-dimensional finite element model was developed to investigate the cause of rail corrugation. The constraints on rail vibration from two wheelsets and adjacent wheel-rail interactions were taken into account in the model. According to experimental and simulation results, the suppression measure for rail corrugation was proposed and the suppression mechanism was discussed. It was found that the cause of rail corrugation is related to vertical and lateral vibration of the rails outside the two wheelsets at around 380 Hz. The increased stiffness of the fasteners reduces the vibration energy of the rail and the wheel-rail force. However, simply increasing the stiffness of the fasteners may not be effective in the suppression of rail corrugation. If necessary, the rails need to be grinded to reduce the roughness to a certain level, so that increasing the fastener stiffness can effectively suppress the rail corrugation.

Investigation into rail corrugation in high-speed railway tracks from the viewpoint of the frictional self-excited vibration of a wheel–rail system

A finite element vibration model of a multiple wheel-rail system which consists of four wheels, one rail, and a series of sleepers is established to address the problem of rail corrugation in high-speed tracks. In the model, the creep forces between the wheels and rail are considered to be saturated and equal to the normal contact forces times the friction coefficient. The oscillation of the rail is coupled with that of wheels in the action of the saturated creep forces. When the coupling is strong, self- excited oscillation of the wheel-rail system occurs. The self-excited vibration propensity of the model is analyzed using the complex eigenvalue method. Results show that there are strong propensities of unstable self-excited vibrations whose frequencies are less than 1,200 Hz under some conditions. Preventing wheels from slipping on rails is an effective method for suppressing rail corrugation in high-speed tracks.

Wheel/rail dynamic interaction due to excitation of rail corrugation in high-speed railway

Characteristics of wheel-rail dynamic interaction due to the rail corrugation in a high-speed railway are analyzed based on the theory of vehicle-track coupled dynamics in this paper.Influences of the corrugation wavelength and depth on the wheel-rail dynamic performance are investigated.The results show that,under the excitation of a measured rail corrugation,the wheel-rail dynamic interaction of high-speed railway is enhanced obviously,and the high-frequency dynamic force between wheel and rail is generated,which has an obvious impact on the vibrations of the wheelset and rail,and little effect on the vibration of the frame and carbody.If the corrugation wavelength is shorter than the sensitive wavelength,the wheel-rail vertical force will increase with the growth of the corrugation wavelength,otherwise,it will decrease.However,the wheel-rail vertical force keeps increasing with the growth of corrugation depth.Furthermore,if the corrugation wavelength is shorter than the sensitive wavelength,the wheel-rail vertical force will increase with the decrease of the running speed,otherwise,it will decrease.It is also found that the critical wavelength of corrugation increases with the growth of the corrugation depth and the running speed,and the critical depth of corrugation is nonlinearly related to the sensitive wavelength.

Effects of wheelset vibration on initiation and evolution of rail short-pitch corrugation

The initiation and evolution of short-pitch corrugation in Beijing metro line 4 was studied from the viewpoint of wheelset vibration.A three-dimensional elastic model was set up.Numerical simulations were undertaken with this model to analyze the corrugation by the wheelset vertical vibration and torsional vibration.Based on numerical results,the relation between rail corrugation and wheelset vibration,and the relation between the position of electromotor and wheelset vibration were indicated.It is found that avoiding the wheelset-rail resonance is one method of controlling the rail short-pitch corrugation and solving the vibration and noise problem in metro lines.

Slip-Stick Vibrations of Wheelsets and Rail Corrugations

A dynamic space coupling model is developed for simulating the vibrations of wheel/rail systems as well as the torsion and bending vibrations of wheelsets. It is found that the slip stick vibrations of wheelsets are mainly caused and controlled by the crossing excitation or self excitation of the vertical vibrations of the whole system and by the bending vibrations and torsion vibrations of the wheelsets. It is found for the first time that the slip stick vibrations may occur in more than one forms, and one or another of the three kinds of vibrations is excited more strongly. Four typical kinds of slip stick vibrations are enumerated and described. The field investigation on rail corrugations shows that the four kinds of slip stick vibrations are most likely to exist and related with different corrugated features.

Measurement methods and analysis tools for rail irregularities:a case study for urban tram track

Rail irregularities, in particular for urban rail- way infrastructures, are one of the main causes for the generation of noise and vibrations. In addition, repetitive loading may also lead to decay of the structural elements of the rolling stock. This further causes an increase in main- tenance costs and reduction of service life. Monitoring these defects on a periodic basis enables the network rail managers to apply proactive measures to limit further damage. This paper discusses the measurement methods for rail corrugation with particular regard to the analysis tools for evaluating the thresholds of acceptability in re- lation to the tramway Italian transport system. Further- more, a method of analysis has been proposed： an application of the methodology used for treating road profiles has been also utilized for the data processing of rail profilometric data.

Effect of High-Frequency Vertical Vibration of Track on Formation and Evolution of Corrugations

The effect of high-frequency curved track vibrations in the vertical direction on the formation and development of rail corrugation was analyzed. Kalker抯 non-Hertzian rolling contact theory was modified and used to calculate the frictional work density on the contact area of the wheel and rail in rolling when a wheelset is steadily curving. The material loss unit area was assumed to be proportional to the frictional work density to determine the wear depth of the contact surface of the rail. The combined influences of the corrugation and the coupled dynamics of the railway vehicle and track were taken into consideration in the numerical simulation. For simplicity, the model considered one fourth of freight car without lateral motion, namely, a wheelset and the equivalent one fourth freight car body above it. The Euler beam was used to model the rails with the track structure under the rails replaced with equivalent springs, dumpers, and mass bodies. The numerical results show that the high-frequency track vibration causes formation of the initial corrugation on the smooth contact surface of the rail when a wheelset is steadily curving. The corrugation wave length depends on the frequencies and the rolling speed of the wheelset. The vibration frequencies also affect the depth and increase the corrugation.