Effect of Lateral Linear Stiffness on Nonlinear Characteristics of Hunting Motion of a Railway Wheelset

Railway wheelset experiences the problem of hunting above a critical speed, which is a kind of self-excited oscillation. At the critical speed, it is known that the system undergoes a subcritical Hopf bifurcation. Therefore, for clarifying the nonlinear characteristics of hunting it is very important to detect, for example, the nonlinear forces in the wheelset due to the creep forces acting between the wheels and rails, and the nonlinear component of the resorting forces by the suspensions. However, it is impossible to determine each force quantitatively. In the present paper, it is first shown, by using the center manifold theory and the method of normal form, that the nonlinear characteristics of the bifurcation in a wheelset model with two degrees of freedom are governed by a single parameter, hence each nonlinear force need not be detected when examining the nonlinear characteristics. Also, a method of determining the governing parameter from experimentally observed radiuses of the unstable limit cycle is proposed. Next, we experimentally investigate the variation of the parameter due to the presence of linear spring suspensions in the lateral direction and discuss the variation of the nonlinear characteristics of the hunting motion, which depends on the lateral stiffness. As a result, the improvement of the stability of the wheelset against the disturbance by the linear spring suspensions is clarified.     

两种型面轮轨滚动接触蠕滑率和摩擦功

采用数值分析方法详细分析了2种型面轮对与轨道在滚动接触过程中的接触几何、蠕滑率和摩擦功。在摩擦功分析计算中利用了Kalker三维弹性体非赫兹滚动接触理论,并考虑了轮轨的结构变形的影响。分析计算表明,在轮对运动相同的情况下,磨耗型轮对与轨道之间的蠕滑率和摩擦功与锥型轮对轨道之间的蠕滑率和摩擦功相差甚大。数值分析结果表明,现行铁路中正在推广使用的磨耗型轮对并不能减少轮轨接触表面之间的磨损,磨损型车轮的型面与钢轨尺寸的匹配还有待进一步改进。     

Track dynamic behavior at rail welds at high speed

As a vehicle passing through a track with different weld irregularities, the dynamic performance of track com- ponents is investigated in detail by using a coupled vehi- cle-track model. In the model, the vehicle is modeled as a multi-body system with 35 degrees of freedom, and a Timoshenko beam is used to model the rails which are dis- cretely supported by sleepers. In the track model, the sleepers are modeled as rigid bodies accounting for their vertical, lat- eral and rolling motions and assumed to move backward at a constant speed to simulate the vehicle running along the track at the same speed. In the study of the coupled vehicle and track dynamics, the Hertizian contact theory and the theory proposed by Shen-Hedrick-Elkins are, respectively, used to calculate normal and creep forces between the wheel and the rails. In the calculation of the normal forces, the coefficient of the normal contact stiffness is determined by transient contact condition of the wheel and rail surface. In the calcu- lation of the creepages, the lateral, roll-over motions of the rail and the fact that the relative velocity between the wheel and rail in their common normal direction is equal to zero are simultaneously taken into account. The motion equations of the vehicle and track are solved by means of an explicit integration method, in which the rail weld irregularities are modeled as local track vertical deviations described by some ideal cosine functions. The effects of the train speed, the axle load, the wavelength and depth of the irregularities, and the weld center position in a sleeper span on the wheel-rail impact loading are analyzed. The numerical results obtained are greatly useful in the tolerance design of welded rail pro- file irregularity caused by hand-grinding after rail welding and track maintenances.     

Using the Dirac approach to model the motion of a railway vehicle when its wheel flange climbs the rail

A mathematical model is proposed to analytically estimate the derailment conditions for a railway vehicle when its wheel flange climbs the rail. The structural parameters of the railway vehicle and the conditions of its motion are taken into account. This model is based on the primary Dirac constraints between the generalized coordinates and momenta and is quite different from the classical no-slip model in the general case. The primary Dirac constraints appear because of the fact that the Lagrangian becomes degenerate when the stiffness of the creep forces tends to infinity at the wheel-rail contact points and the ratio of the wheelset mass to the vehicle mass tends to zero.     

Effect of rail corrugation on vertical dynamics of railway vehicle coupled with a track

The effect of rail corrugation on the vertical dynamics of railway vehicle coupled with a curved track is investigated in detail with a numerical method when a wheelset is steadily curving. In the calculation of rail corrugation we consider the combination of Kalker‘s rolling contact theory modified, a model of material loss on rail running surface, and a dynamics model of railway vehicle coupled with a curved track. In the establishment of the dynamic model, for simplicity, one fourth of the freight car without lateral motions,namely a wheelset and the equivalent one fourth freight car body above it, is considered. The Euler beam is used to model the rails and the track structure under the rails is replaced with equivalent springs, dampers and mass bodies. The numerical results show the great influence of the rail corrugation on the vibration of the parts of the vehicle and the track, and the some characters of rail corrugation in development.     

Effect of a scratch on curved rail on initiation and evolution of plastic deformation induced rail corrugation

A calculation model is put forward to analyze the effect of a scratch on the running surface of a curved rail on initiation and growth of plastic deformation induced rail corrugation when a wheelset is steadily and repeatedly curving. The numerical method considers a combination of Carter’s two-dimensional contact theory, a two-dimensional elastic–plastic finite element model and a vertical dynamics model of railway vehicle coupled with a curved track. A concept of feedback between the corrugation development and the vertical coupling dynamics of the wheelset and track is involved. The cyclic ratchetting effect of the rail material under repeated contact loadings is taken into account. The numerical results indicate that when a vehicle runs on rails with a scratch the contact vibration between the wheel and rail occurs at large amplitude, and rail corrugation due to plastic deformation initiates and develops. The corrugation has a tendency to move along the running direction and its evolution rate decays as wheelset passages increase. The passing frequencies of the plastic deformation induced corrugation depend on the natural frequencies of the track. The residual stresses stabilize after a limited number of wheelset passages. The residual strains increase at a reduced rate with increasing wheelset passages.     

轨下支承失效对直线轨道动态响应的影响

建立了基于Timoshenko梁模型的车辆/轨道耦合动力学模型,分析轨下支承失效对直线轨道动态响应的影响. 钢轨被视为连续弹性离散点支承上的无限长Timoshenko梁,通过假设轨道系统刚度沿纵向分布发生突变来模拟轨下支承失效状态. 推导了考虑钢轨横向、垂向和扭转运动的轮轨滚动接触蠕滑率计算公式. 利用Hertz法向接触理论和沈氏蠕滑理论计算轮轨法向力及轮轨滚动接触蠕滑力. 采用移动轨下支承模型的车辆/轨道耦合系统激振模式,考虑轨枕离散支承对系统动力响应的影响. 通过新型显式积分法求解车辆/轨道耦合动力学系统运动方程,由数值分析计算得到不同轨下支承失效状态下直线轨道的动态响应. 结果表明,轨下支承失效对直线轨道变形及加速度有显著的影响,随着失效轨下支承个数的增加,轮轨相互作用力和轨道部件的位移、加速度将会急剧增大,将加速失效区段线路状况的恶化.      

Dynamics of a satellite carrying a point mass moving about it

We study the dynamics of a complex system consisting of a solid and a mass point moving according to a prescribed law along a curve rigidly fixed to the body. The motion occurs in a central Newtonian gravitational field. It is assumed that the orbit of the system center of mass is an ellipse of arbitrary eccentricity.We obtain equations that describe the motion of the carrier (satellite) about its center of mass. In the case of a circular orbit, we present conditions that should be imposed on the law of the relative motion of the mass point carried by the satellite so that the latter preserves a constant attitude with respect to the orbital coordinate system. In the case of a dynamically symmetric satellite, we consider the problem of existence of stationary and nearly stationary rotations for the case in which the carried point moves along the satellite symmetry axis.We consider several problems of dynamics of the satellite plane motion about its center of mass in an elliptic orbit of arbitrary eccentricity. In particular, we present the law of motion of the carried point in the case without eccentricity oscillations and study the stability of the satellite permanent attitude with respect to the orbital coordinate system.     

Non-linear dynamic phenomena in the behaviour of a railway wheelset model

A dicone moving on a pair of cylindrical rails can be considered as a simplified model of a railway wheelset. Taking into account the non-linear friction laws of rolling contact, the equations of motion for this non-linear mechanical system result in a set of differential-algebraic equations. Previous simulations performed with the differential-algebraic solver DASSL, [2], and experiments, [7], indicated non-linear phenomena such as limit-cycles, bifurcations as well as chaotic behaviour. In this paper the non-linear phenomena are investigated in more detail with the aid of special in-house software and the path-following algorithm PATH [10]. We apply Poincaré sections and Poincaré maps to describe the structure of periodic, quasiperiodic and chaotic motions. The analyses show that part of the chaotic behaviour of the non-linear system can be fully understood as a non-linear iterative process. The resulting stretching and folding processes are illustrated by series of Poincaré sections.     

On the dynamics of a rolling ball actuated by internal point masses

The motion of a rolling ball actuated by internal point masses that move inside the ball’s frame of reference is considered. The equations of motion are derived by applying Euler–Poincaré’s symmetry reduction method in concert with Lagrange–d’Alembert’s principle, which accounts for the presence of the nonholonomic rolling constraint. As a particular example, we consider the case when the masses move along internal rails, or trajectories, of arbitrary shape and fixed within the ball’s frame of reference. Our system of equations can treat most possible methods of actuating the rolling ball with internal moving masses encountered in the literature, such as circular motion of the masses mimicking swinging pendula or straight line motion of the masses mimicking magnets sliding inside linear tubes embedded within a solenoid. Moreover, our method can model arbitrary rail shapes and an arbitrary number of rails such as several ellipses and/or figure eights, which may be important for future designs of rolling ball robots. For further analytical study, we also reduce the system to a single differential equation when the motion is planar, that is, considering the motion of the rolling disk actuated by internal point masses, in which case we show that the results obtained from the variational derivation coincide with those obtained from Newton’s second law. Finally, the equations of motion are solved numerically, illustrating a wealth of complex behaviors exhibited by the system’s dynamics. Our results are relevant to the dynamics of nonholonomic systems containing internal degrees of freedom and to further studies of control of such systems actuated by internal masses.     

Remote detection of derailment of a wagon of a freight train: theory and experiment

Summary The paper discusses the possibility to detect derailment of a train's wagon by measuring vibrations of the rails under the locomotive. Both theoretical and experimental studies have been carried out, followed by a comparison of their results. For the theoretical modelling of the railway track, a Timoshenko beam resting on discrete, equidistantly spaced supports is used. The steady-state response of the beam to a load that either uniformly moves along the beam or uniformly `jumps' from support to next support is investigated at a point, which remains at a fixed distance from the moving load. The load that moves along the beam is used to model the `normal motion' of a train's wheelset, whereas the `jumping' load is employed to model the action of a derailed wheelset. It is shown that the effect of the derailed wheel-set consists of an amplification of the rail's response in the frequency band that surrounds the natural frequency of the sleeper's vibrations. This theoretical prediction is confirmed experimentally. A method of processing the measured data is proposed that allows for stable detection of the derailment. A maximum distance between the locomotive and the derailed wagon is estimated, at which the detection is possible.     

谐波型波磨激扰下轮轨系统接触蠕滑特性

将钢轨波浪形磨耗理想化为三种波长和波深组合的连续谐波激扰,通过多体动力学软件UM,分析不同波长和波深工况下谐波激扰对轮轨接触蠕滑特性的影响。研究表明,当波长固定、波深增大时,钢轨轮对垂向振动加速度和纵向蠕滑率/力的平均值均增大,横向蠕滑率/力平均值均减小。当波深固定、波长增大时,钢轨轮对垂向振动加速度平均值和纵向蠕滑率/力平均值均减小,横向蠕滑率/力平均值均增大。纵横向蠕滑率/力均含有与初始不平顺频率值相接近的特征频率成分,纵向蠕滑率/力特征频率随着波深的增大趋向高频段发展,横向蠕滑率/力特征频率集中在低频段,且随着波深增大逐渐减小。当波深为0.3 mm时,纵横向蠕滑率/力强度相当,能量主要集中在低频,频率比较单一;当波深达到0.6 mm和0.9 mm时,蠕滑率/力以纵向蠕滑率/力为主,表现出多频率特征。在波长相同的条件下,随着运营时间的增加,磨耗量在低频段增加较小,在中高频段增加较大。     

Nonlinear dynamic responses of high-speed railway vehicles under combined self-excitation and forced excitation considering the influence of unsteady aerodynamic loads

The dynamic characteristics of a railway vehicle system under unsteady aerodynamic loads are examined in this study. A dynamic analysis model of the railway vehicle considering the influences of aerodynamic loads was established. The model not only considers the forced excitation effect of unsteady aerodynamic loads but also accounts for the effect of unsteady aerodynamic loads on the change of the wheel–rail contact normal forces as well as changes of the wheelset creep coefficients and creep forces/moments. Therefore, this model also considers the influences of unsteady aerodynamic loads on the self-excited vibration characteristics of the vehicle system. The time-history curves, phase trajectory diagrams, Poincaré sections, and Lyapunov exponents of the vehicle system running on a smooth straight track under unsteady aerodynamic loads were determined. The results show that when the critical speed is exceeded, the vehicle system usually performs quasi-periodic motion under unsteady aerodynamic loads, which is significantly different from the periodic motion under steady aerodynamic loads. In different cases, the amplitude and phase of motion are significantly different. The amplitude of the motions can be increased by more than 159%, and the difference of phase can be up to 173°. (The phase is almost reversed.) The dynamic responses of the vehicle system under unsteady aerodynamic loads contain abundant frequency components, including the frequency of the self-excited vibration, the frequency of the forced excitation, and combinations of their integer multiples. The vibration forms corresponding to the main harmonic components under unsteady and steady aerodynamic loads were compared, and the self-excited vibration component of the vehicle system under unsteady aerodynamic loads was identified. The variations in the critical speed with various parameter combinations were computed. The variation range of the critical velocity can reach 73%.

     

Orbital oscillations of an elastic vertically-tethered satellite

The motion of a satellite in a circular orbit with respect to its center of mass is considered. The satellite bears an elastic tether system unrolled along the local vertical. The load at the end of the tether oscillates harmonically. The satellite motion under the action of the gravitational moment and the moment due to the tether tension force is studied. The bifurcation diagram is constructed and the hetero- and homoclinic separatrix trajectories are determined. Mel'nikov's method is used to study the satellite chaotic behavior near separatrices under the action of the periodic tether tension force. The results of the present paper can be used to analyze tether systems of gravitational stabilization and to study the orbital behavior of a satellite with an unrolled tether system with respect to the satellite center of mass.     

Conditions for pure rolling of a heavy cylinder along a brachistochrone

Algebraic equations for the line of steepest descent of a cylinder are derived in parametric form. Conditions for rolling without slipping and separation of the cylinder along a brachistochrone are established based on the equations of motion with constraint reaction. The important conclusion is drawn that the center of mass of a cylinder moving along a brachistochrone describes a cycloid     

轮对非线性动力学模型稳定性和分岔特性研究

为了探究轮对系统的横向失稳问题,考虑了陀螺效应和一系悬挂阻尼的影响作用,建立非线性轮轨接触关系的轮对动力学模型,研究轮对系统的蛇行稳定性、Hopf分岔特性及迁移转化机理.通过稳定性判据获得了轮对系统失稳临界速度.采用中心流形定理和规范型方法对轮对动力学模型进行化简,得到与轮对系统分岔特性相同的一维复变量方程,理论推导求得轮对系统的第一Lyapunov系数的表达式,根据其符号即可判断轮对系统的Hopf分岔类型.讨论了不同参数对轮对系统Hopf分岔临界速度的影响,探究了轮对系统的超临界、亚临界Hopf分岔域在二维参数空间的分布规律.利用数值模拟得到轮对系统的3种典型Hopf分岔图,验证了轮对系统超临界、亚临界Hopf分岔域分布规律的正确性.结果表明,轮对系统的临界速度随着等效锥度的增大而减小,随着一系悬挂的纵向刚度和纵向阻尼的增大而增大,随着纵向蠕滑系数的增大呈先增大后减小.系统参数变化会引起轮对系统Hopf分岔类型发生改变,即亚临界与超临界Hopf分岔相互迁移转化.轮对系统Hopf分岔域在二维参数空间的分布规律对于轮对系统参数匹配和优化设计具有一定的指导意义.     

Nonlinear Dynamics of a Rigid Unbalanced Rotor in Journal Bearings. Part I: Theoretical Analysis

The dynamic behaviour of a rigid rotor supported on plain journal bearings was studied, focusing particular attention on its nonlinear aspects. Under the hypothesis that the motion of the rotor mass center is plane, the rotor has five Lagrangian co-ordinates which are represented by the co-ordinates of the mass center and the three angular co-ordinates needed to express the rotor's rotation with respect to its center of mass. In such conditions, the system is characterised not only by the nonlinearity of the bearings but also by the nonlinearity due to the trigonometric functions of the three assigned angular co-ordinates. However, if two angular co-ordinates have values that are generally quite small because of the small radial clearances in the bearings, the system is de facto linear in these angular co-ordinates. Moreover, if the third angular co-ordinate is assumed to be cyclic [18], the number of degrees of freedom in the system is reduced to four and nonlinearity depends solely on the presence of the journal bearings, whose reactions were predicted with the -film, short bearing model. After writing the equations of motion in this way and determining a numerical routine for a Runge–Kutta integration the most significant aspects of the dynamics of a symmetrical rotor were studied, in the presence of either pure static or pure couple unbalance and also when both types of unbalance were present. Two categories of rotors, whose motion is prevailingly a cylindrical whirl or a conical whirl, were put under investigation.     

Dynamics of the rolling and sliding of an elongated cylinder

A snap of a finger on an elongated cylinder produces on it a surprising fast spinning motion during which its mass center rises with very large oscillations. After that, the mass center goes to a long quasi-stationary oscillations state and eventually goes down very slowly. To explain this behavior we present a theoretical and numerical analysis of the dynamics of a spinning elongated cylinder moving with a single point of contact on a horizontal plane under the action of gravity. The study has been made taking into account the rolling and sliding dissipation as well as the Kutta–Joukowski airflow effect. The results of the simulations are in agreement qualitatively with the observed real motion.     

轮对非线性动力学系统蛇行运动的解析解

在对铁路车辆系统的极限环幅值和非线性临界速度进行分析时通常采用数值方法, 不便于研究其随系统参数的变化规律. 轮对系统保留了影响车辆系统动力学性能的几个关键要素: 如轮轨几何非线性约束、轮轨接触蠕滑关系和悬挂系统等, 可以反映铁路车辆系统蛇行运动的本质特性. 轮对系统自由度少、参数少, 可以采用解析方法进行分析. 本文选取合适的特征量把轮对非线性动力学方程无量纲化, 得到了带有小参数的两自由度微分方程; 采用多尺度方法对该方程进行了解析求解; 给出了轮对系统极限环幅值的解析表达式并对其稳定性进行了判定; 给出了轮对系统的分岔速度解析表达式, 并进而获得系统的非线性临界速度的解析表达式. 在对得到的解析解用数值结果进行验证后, 用得到的解析解进行了系统参数影响分析. 传统的分岔图计算方法(如降速法、路径跟踪法等)需对微分方程进行大量数值积分计算方可求解系统的非线性临界速度值, 而通过本文获得的解析表达式可直接给出系统的非线性临界速度值和极限环幅值, 便于研究轮对系统动力学特性随参数的变化规律,进行快速方案比对和筛选, 为转向架结构优化设计提供参考.      

干-水态下圆形硌伤对钢轨材料滚动接触疲劳特性影响

采用布氏硬度仪在钢轨试样表面制得不同尺寸的圆形硌伤,利用MMS-2A型微机控制摩擦磨损试验机研究了未硌伤和硌伤钢轨的表面硬度、磨损量及滚动接触疲劳损伤特性.结果表明:与未硌伤钢轨相比,硌伤钢轨的表面硬度和磨损量都有所增加;随硌伤尺寸增加,钢轨磨损量与硬度随之增大.较小尺寸的硌伤坑(1.6 mm)有助于减轻硌伤处疲劳裂纹的产生,硌伤坑超过临界值(2.0 mm)则会加重硌伤区附近疲劳裂纹的萌生并导致支裂纹和垂向裂纹的出现.未硌伤钢轨疲劳裂纹以沿晶扩展为主,大尺寸硌伤钢轨试样的疲劳裂纹呈现穿晶扩展现象.