Abstract
Railway train energy simulation is an important and popular research topic. Locomotive traction force simulations are a fundamental part of such research. Conventional energy calculation models are not able to consider locomotive wheel–rail adhesions, traction adhesion control, and locomotive dynamics. This paper has developed two models to fill this research gap. The first model uses a 2D locomotive model with 27 degrees of freedom and a simplified wheel–rail contact model. The second model uses a 3D locomotive model with 54 degrees of freedom and a fully detailed wheel–rail contact model. Both models were integrated into a longitudinal train dynamics model with the consideration of locomotive adhesion control. Energy consumption simulations using a conventional model (1D model) and the two new models (2D and 3D models) were conducted and compared. The results show that, due to the consideration of wheel–rail adhesion model and traction control in the 3D model, it reports less energy consumption than the 1D model. The maximum difference in energy consumption rate between the 3D model and the 1D model was 12.5%. Due to the consideration of multiple wheel–rail contact points in the 3D model, it reports higher energy consumption than the 2D model. An 8.6% maximum difference in energy consumption rate between the 3D model and the 1D model was reported during curve negotiation.
Highlights
Driven by the objectives of lower emissions and lower operational costs, railway train energy simulation is a popular research topic [1,2,3]
To better investigate the implications of locomotive wheel– rail adhesions for train energy calculations, three locomotive models are used in this paper: (1) a model commonly used for longitudinal train dynamics (LTD) simulations, which can be regarded as a onedimensional model; (2) a three-dimensional (3D) model developed using a commercial software called GENSYS [20]; and (3) a two-dimensional (2D) in-house model developed in FORTRAN language
The Message Passing Interface (MPI) technique [24] was used for the 2D locomotive model, whilst the Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) technique [25] and the OpenMP technique [26] were used for the 3D locomotive model
Summary
Driven by the objectives of lower emissions and lower operational costs, railway train energy simulation is a popular research topic [1,2,3]. Traction forces are influenced by a number of factors, for example (1) vehicle dynamics that can vary wheel–rail vertical force, (2) wheel–rail adhesion characteristics that directly influence the resulted traction forces, and (3) traction control that changes traction torque to avoid excessive wheel slip and/ or slide. None of these factors is able to be. The modelling and simulation methods presented in this paper can be adapted to be used for passenger trains, this paper focuses on train energy issues in freight trains including heavy haul trains.
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