Rail vehicle passing through a turnout: analysis of different turnout designs and wheel profiles

In recent years, different systems have been developed in order to improve the dynamic behaviour of railway vehicles when passing through turnouts. Some of these improvements consist in varying the geometry of the switch itself and including moveable crossing vees. It is worth mentioning that they a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part F, Journal of rail and rapid transit Journal of rail and rapid transit, 2012-11, Vol.226 (6), p.587-602
Main Authors: Lagos, Rodrigo Fernando, Alonso, Asier, Vinolas, Jordi, Pérez, Xabier
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automotive components
Design engineering
Dynamic tests
Dynamical systems
Dynamics
Geometry
Mechanical engineering
Railroad wheels
Rails
Railway networks
Software
Trains
Vehicles
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In recent years, different systems have been developed in order to improve the dynamic behaviour of railway vehicles when passing through turnouts. Some of these improvements consist in varying the geometry of the switch itself and including moveable crossing vees. It is worth mentioning that they are designed by taking a certain wheel profile into consideration, i.e. it is assumed that the wheel profile does not change. The objective of the current study is to determine the influence that the turnout design has on vehicle dynamics, as well as the influence that the variability in wheel profiles can have on the effectiveness of the different systems. In order to do this, the MBS software Simpack was used to model one vehicle with two different turnouts and four different profiles. The results show that the geometrical design of the turnout has a critical influence on the vehicle/turnout. We also concluded that the wheel profile does not have a significant influence when the vehicle passes through turnouts.
ISSN:0954-4097
2041-3017
DOI:10.1177/0954409712445114