Hunting stability analysis of a railway vehicle system using a novel non-linear creep model

Abstract

A non-linear creep model that considers non-constant creep coefficients that vary as a function of vehicle speed is derived using Hertz contact theory, Kalker’s linear theory and a heuristic non-linear creep model. The proposed model is created by modifying the heuristic non-linear creep model by adding a linear creep moment and the semi-axis lengths in the non-linearity of the saturation constant. In this paper, the vehicle is modeled by a system with 28 degrees of freedom, taking into consideration the lateral displacement, vertical displacement, roll angle and yaw angle of each wheelset, the truck frames and car body. To analyze the respective effects of the major system parameters on the vehicle dynamics, the 28 degree-of-freedom (DOF) system is reduced to a 25-DOF model, by excluding designated subsets of the system parameters. The accuracy of the present analysis is verified by comparing a six-DOF system and the current numerical results with results in the literature. The effects of suspension parameters of a vehicle on the critical hunting speeds evaluated by the currently proposed model, the traditional non-linear creep model and the linear creep model are illustrated. In most cases, the obtained results show that the critical hunting speed evaluated using the new non-linear creep model is greater than that derived using the traditional non-linear creep model. Additionally, the critical hunting speed evaluated using the linear creep model is higher than that evaluated using the currently proposed non-linear creep model.