Reducing the accidental rate of wagons by improving the system for assessing their technical condition

Abstract

The monograph will be valuable for researchers, designers, and engineers engaged in activities associated with reducing the accident rate of railway cars through the enhancement of systems assessing their technical condition. Specifically, it addresses issues related to the utilization of laboratory cars during full-scale tests for evaluating motion quality, acceptance, and commissioning of railway rolling stock. However, the current state of measurement equipment development enables the abandonment of such laboratory cars in favor of mobile hardware-software complexes during dynamic testing of rolling stock units in most cases. The organization of freight train traffic in Ukraine is a critical factor in integrating the country's railway transport into the European system. Currently, a situation has arisen that demands a significant upgrade of the freight wagon fleet with modern wagons to meet the requirements of freight transportation. Another substantial drawback of Ukraine's railway transport is the speed limitation for trains with wagons having reduced tare weight, impacting the speed of rail freight transport. Therefore, there is an immediate need to improve the methodological and software support, along with testing tools, for evaluating the performance and safety indicators of such wagons. Due to their unsatisfactory dynamic behavior, a specific group of freight wagons, such as platform wagons, has a speed limit of 60 km/h, negatively affecting rail freight speed. Crucial indicators of the railway rolling stock's motion quality include vertical and horizontal dynamics, the wheel flange stability coefficient against derailment, frame forces, and body accelerations. These aspects largely depend on the weight of the rolling stock's tare and the interaction indicators between the crew part and the track. The monograph's objective is to illuminate the results of conceptual solutions aimed at assessing the technical condition and motion quality indicators of wagons under the conditions of operation using modern mobile systems. The book also presents the outcomes of prior theoretical and practical works, including an analysis of railway traffic safety issues and existing systems for determining motion quality indicators. A proposed mobile system for determining the motion quality indicators of wagons in operation and a complex of hardware, software, and mathematical solutions for determining the motion quality indicators of wagons are included. Concepts of freight wagons with improved motion quality characteristics are also discussed. The book can serve as a textbook for the training of bachelor's, master's, and doctoral students in various specialties related to transport mechanics, including railway transport, transport technologies, mechanical engineering, materials science, and others.