A new method for modelling and simulation of the dynamic behaviour of the wheel-rail contact

Abstract

This paper presents a new method for modelling and simulation of the dynamic behaviour of the wheel-rail contact. The proposed dynamic wheel-rail contact model comprises wheel-rail contact geometry, normal contact problem, tangential contact problem and wheelset dynamic behaviour on the track. This two-degree of freedom model takes into account the lateral displacement of the wheelset and the yaw angle. Single wheel tread rail contact is considered for all simulations and Kalker's linear theory and heuristic non-linear creep models are employed. The second order differential equations are reduced to first order and the forward velocity of the wheelset is increased until the wheelset critical velocity is reached. This approach does not require solving mathematical equations in order to estimate the critical velocity of the dynamic wheel-rail contact model. The mathematical model is implemented in Matlab using numerical differentiation method. The simulated results compare well with the estimated results based on classical theory related to the dynamic behaviour of rail-wheel contact so the model is validated.