Abstract
Locomotives are susceptible to wheel slip when passing through the low adhesion sections. Wheel slip is more likely to occur on wheelsets with reduced axle load due to axle load transfer (ALT). To address this problem, we propose a nonlinear optimisation method for traction forces to improve the locomotive adhesion utilisation under the rail adhesion limitation. Firstly, we established an improved ALT model considering the rotation of the traction rod and verified its effectiveness through a field test. Then, we applied a sequential quadratic programming algorithm to optimise the traction forces with the constraints of the adhesion and ALT. Based on the proposed method, we analysed the impact of static axle load, traction force limitations, and coupler pitch angle on the optimisation results. The results indicate that the optimisation method can effectively utilize the axle load and adhesion of all wheelsets under different factors. A train dynamics model incorporating the optimisation module is further developed to investigate the method's effectiveness in improving the adhesion utilisation of locomotives. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed optimisation method can enhance the maximum traction force of the locomotive, effectively preventing the wheelset with reduced axle load from slipping.
Published Version
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