A critical review of wheel/rail high frequency vibration-induced vibration fatigue of railway bogie in China

Purpose–This review aims to give a critical view of the wheel/rail high frequency vibration-induced vibration fatigue in railway bogie.Design/methodology/approach–Vibration fatigue of railway bogie arising from the wheel/rail high frequency vibration has become the main concern of railway operators.Previous reviews usually focused on the formation mechanism of wheel/rail high frequency vibration.This paper thus gives a critical review of the vibration fatigue of railway bogie owing to the short-pitch irregularities-induced high frequency vibration,including a brief introduction of short-pitch irregularities,associated high frequency vibration in railway bogie,typical vibration fatigue failure cases of railway bogie and methodologies used for the assessment of vibration fatigue and research gaps.Findings–The results showed that the resulting excitation frequencies of short-pitch irregularity vary substantially due to different track types and formation mechanisms.The axle box-mounted components are much more vulnerable to vibration fatigue compared with other components.The wheel polygonal wear and rail corrugation-induced high frequency vibration is the main driving force of fatigue failure,and the fatigue crack usually initiates from the defect of the weld seam.Vibration spectrum for attachments of railway bogie defined in the standard underestimates the vibration level arising from the short-pitch irregularities.The current investigations on vibration fatigue mainly focus on the methods to improve the accuracy of fatigue damage assessment,and a systematical design method for vibration fatigue remains a huge gap to improve the survival probability when the rail vehicle is subjected to vibration fatigue.Originality/value–The research can facilitate the development of a new methodology to improve the fatigue life of railway vehicles when subjected to wheel/rail high frequency vibration.

System dynamics in structural strength and vibration fatigue life assessment of the swing bar for high‐speed maglev train

High‐speed maglev trains are subjected to severe dynamic loads,thus posing a failure hazard.It is necessary to account for the vehicle dynamics to improve the structural strength and fatigue life assessment approach under harsh routes and super high‐speed grades.As the most critical load‐carrying part between the vehicle body and levitation frames,the swing bar was taken as an example to demonstrate the significance of vehicle dynamics to integrate classical structural strength and fatigue life with the service conditions.A multiphysics‐coupled dynamic model of an alpha improvement scheme for an electromagnetic suspension maglev train capable of 600 km/h was established to investigate the complex dynamic loads and fatigue spectra.Using this model,the structural strength and fatigue life of the wrought swing bars were investigated.Results show only a slight effect on the structural strength and fatigue life of swing bars by the super high‐speed grades.The nonaxial bending moments caused by the uncompensated relative displacement between the vehicle body and bolsters are identified as the decisive factors.The minimum safety factor of the structural strength for wrought swing bars is 1.33,while the minimum fatigue life is 34 years.Both match the design requirements but are not conservative enough.Therefore,further verification and optimization are recommended to improve the design of swing bars.

Experimental Study on Response Performance of VIV of A Flexible Riser with Helical Strakes

Laboratory tests were conducted on a flexible riser with and without helical strakes. The aim of the present work is to further understand the response performance of the vortex induced vibration（VIV） for a riser with helical strakes. The experiment was accomplished in the towing tank and the relative current was simulated by towing a flexible riser in one direction. Based on the modal analysis method, the displacement responses can be obtained by the measured strain. The strakes with different heights are analyzed here, and the response parameters like strain response and displacement response are studied. The experimental results show that the in-line（IL） response is as important as the cross-flow（CF） response, however, many industrial analysis methods usually ignore the IL response due to VIV. The results also indicate that the response characteristics of a bare riser can be quite distinct from that of a riser with helical strakes, and the response performance depends on the geometry on the helical strakes closely. The fatigue damage is further discussed and the results show that the fatigue damage in the CF direction is of the same order as that in the IL direction for the bare riser. However, for the riser with helical strakes, the fatigue damage in the CF direction is much smaller than that in the IL direction.

Effects of installations on the low frequency vibration response of specimens in acoustic fatigue tests

The low frequency vibration response of a specimen in acoustic fatigue tests depends not only on the dynamic characteristics and the boundary conditions of the specimen itself, but also on the test unit which couples the specimen to a given sound field. Further, the latter can even be dominant instead the former in some circumstances. This fact is shown in the paper by using the experimental results and the theoretical analysis of the acoustic-induced vibration of a boundary clamped rectangular thin plate. In analysing the systems of acoustic fatigue test, an approach of electro-mechano-acoustical analogous circuit is used. The application of the approach can give an estimation of the effects on the low frequency vibration modes of various parameters in a system quantitatively. This supplies a theoretical basis and a means for the rational layout of acoustic fatigue tests.

Vibration monitoring for composite structures using buckypaper sensors arrayed by flexible printed circuit

Fiber-reinforced resin-based plastics are widely used in structural composites for aerospace and automotive applications,and they often face extreme load conditions in actual working environments.It is challenging to monitor the damage of the structure during the vibration process.This study was aimed at using buckypaper(BP)sensors to monitor the structural health status of composite structures under ambient vibrations.First,the feasibility of flexible printed circuit instead of wire is verified by the tensile experiment.Then the vibration monitoring experiment of the composite cantilever beam is carried out by using BP sensors systematically.The sweep frequency experiment determines the excitation frequency of the cantilever beam.Low-period vibration fatigue cycle and high-period vibration fatigue cycle experiments are designed to verify the vibration monitoring method using BP sensors.Besides,the signal response of BP sensors in the vibration experiment is analyzed,and the relationship betweenΔR/R0 and vibration acceleration is obtained.Finally,through the change law ofΔR/R0 of the sensor,the cumulative damage caused by vibration fatigue is visualized.It is demonstrated that the monitoring method based on BP sensors can be applied to study the damage behavior of composite structure under the vibration environment.

Mechanical Analysis Methods of Cantilever Gearbox Housing

The mechanical state of cantilever gearbox housing is different from ordinary ones due to the long arm of force caused by cantilever structure.Conventional mechanical analysis methods either took cantilever gearbox housing as ordinary ones or cantilever beam.Few published papers have specially focused on mechanical analysis method for cantilever gearbox housing.This paper takes a longwall shearer cutting unit gearbox(SCUG)as an example and the mechanical analysis method is investigated according to the causes of fatigue for SCUG.Force analysis model is established for finding out regions of static fatigue caused by low-frequency loads,and local resonance analysis is used for finding out regions of vibration fatigue caused by high-frequency loads.Not only bending moment but also torque caused by gear meshing forces is taken into account in the force analysis model.Vibration response is obtained from cutting experiment,and dominant frequencies of local resonance are obtained by frequency domain analysis.Finite element model of SCUG is established,and natural frequencies and strain modes are analyzed for obtaining the main vibration modes corresponding to dominant frequencies.Hence,large stress regions caused by low and high frequency loads are obtained.Results show that the worst working condition is oblique cutting,and the stress of B-B in 600 mm cutting depth can reach 166 MPa.Obviously,950 Hz,1250 Hz,and 1400 Hz are dominant frequencies of SCUG(23rd,25th and 27th natural frequencies).Generally,this paper proposes some principles for mechanical analysis method of cantilever gearbox housing.