Running safety of a railway vehicle in the presence of random track irregularities

Abstract

The paper presents the author�s investigations on dynamics of a railway vehicle, especially the effect of various factors on the running safety. The applied simulation methods used for analysis of running safety are in agreement the technical standards UIC 518 and EN 14363. The numerical simulations are performed for non-linear model of railway vehicle (a passenger car) moving along a tangent track with lateral and vertical geometrical irregularities of random character. The obtained results are used to study how the derailment coefficient is affected by the ride velocity, the parameters of the primary and secondary vehicle suspension, the wear of wheel and rail profiles as well as the track condition. The investigation of running safety is further enhanced by performing the spectral analysis of the dynamical responses of the railway vehicle-track system. It is found that there is a direct relation between the obtained power spectral density (PSD) of the derailment coefficient and the PSD of the lateral and angular wheelset displacements showing the characteristic oscillations due to the wheelset hunting. Finally, the paper presents the results of the statistical analysis of local track geometrical irregularities occurring in the vicinity of the track points where the derailment coefficient attains large values.