The influence of the reliability of wheelsets of innovative wagons in operation on the need for new wheels

Abstract

The article considers one of the most important wagon units - wheelsets. An analysis was made of the growing number of uncoupled wagons of Russian railways for unplanned repairs and it was revealed that the most common reasons for this are the faulty condition of the wheelsets and axle boxes. It was determined that the factors influencing the nature of the malfunctions are the inappropriate quality of the repair of bogies, the admission to operation of secondary wheels with a rib thickness of less than 26 mm. One of the measures taken is the lubrication of rails and sleepers. The introduction of innovative wagons with wear-resistant wheelsets may also have an impact on reducing the growth in the number of uncoupled wagons requiring repair. The features of newly produced innovative wagons with a higher axle load and an increased turnaround time are considered. To assess the impact of an increase in the share of innovative wagons on the need for wheels, the reliability indicators of wheelsets of innovative gondola and hopper wagons were considered. Reliability was evaluated by indicators of the probability of nonfailure operation, the failure rate parameter and the time between failures. An assessment was carried out for each type of identified malfunctions. The most common were a thin rib and a shelled tread. Results of the calculations showed the dependences of the number of uncoupled wagons on faults from the run of wagons to uncoupling were defined. The probability of nonfailure operation of the wheels of the studied wagons was determined. It has been determined that the average mileage before a malfunction occurs for innovative gondola wagons is 3.5 times greater than for traditional wagons.