The Use of Multibody Software in the Wheel/Rail Contact as Applied to Very High Speed Tests

by J. P. Pascal, INRETS-LTN, Arcueil, France,
G. Sauvage, INRETS-LTN, Arcueil, France,
P. Delfosse, INRETS-LTN, Arcueil, France,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: High Speed Ground Transportation Systems I: Planning and Engineering

Abstract:

How strange may it be, the behaviour of railway vehicles depend on contact forces developing between wheels and rails inside patches of no more than 1 cm². Basically, the modeling of these forces derives from geometric descriptions of wheels and rails profiles together with elasticity and Kalker's theories. Although non Hertzian patches can be computed today, the use of inside dynamical computations is too heavy and it has been necessary to simplify the modeling in two steps: the first one deals with Hertzian multicontacts (addition of ellipses) and the second reduces it to one ellipse. This paper recalls the new method and develops its application to the computation of the dynamical behaviour of the TGV train set that has reached 320 miles/h. Comparisons between forces calculated by this quick new method and the SNCF measurements are presented.

Subject Headings: Rail transportation | Computer models | Railroad trains | Contact mechanics | Computer software | Railroad tracks | Dynamic loads

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