Life-cycle Assessment of a Composite Railway bogie frame

Abstract

In the transportation sector, any small changes in structural mass have a significant impact on the overall fuel and energy consumption of a vehicle over its lifetime. Thus, the pursuit of mass optimization has gained popularity to cut costs and lower energy usage. Notably, the railway bogie, a crucial component of a railway coach, accounts for more than a third of the coach's mass. Consequently, reducing the weight of the bogie can yield substantial reductions in the overall mass of the railway coach. Therefore, the utilization of materials with relatively higher performance-to-weight ratios, such as Carbon and Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers (CFRPs/GFRPs), holds immense potential for mass reduction. However, it's crucial to adopt a holistic perspective when evaluating the energy consumption and environmental footprint of a structure due to the energy intensive nature of CFRP materials. In this research, we assess the environmental impact of a light-weight composite bogie frame using a Predictive Life-Cycle Assessment (PLCA) methodology. The impact category chosen for this cradle-to-grave assessment is the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), with a special emphasis on evaluating the energy consumption during the EOL phase. The CED of the frame is evaluated over its service life with a comparison being made with a conventional metallic frame. The results show that using GFRPs in the composite side beam reduces the CED by approximately 25%. The break-even analysis performed showed that the steel structure has a lower energy consumption below a service life of 1,794,000 kms as compared to the GFRP side-beam manufactured by manual processes.