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.     

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.     

Integration of uniform design and quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization to the robust design for a railway vehicle suspension system under different wheel conicities and wheel rolling radii

This paper proposes a systematic method, inte-grating the uniform design(UD)of experiments and quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization(QPSO),to solve the problem of a robust design for a railway vehicle suspension system. Based on the new nonlinear creep model derived from combining Hertz contact theory, Kalker's linear the-ory and a heuristic nonlinear creep model,the modeling and dynamic analysis of a 24 degree-of-freedom railway vehi-cle system were investigated.The Lyapunov indirect method was used to examine the effects of suspension parameters, wheel conicities and wheel rolling radii on critical hunting speeds.Generally,the critical hunting speeds of a vehicle sys-tem resulting from worn wheels with different wheel rolling radii are lower than those of a vehicle system having origi-nal wheels without different wheel rolling radii.Because of worn wheels, the critical hunting speed of a running rail-way vehicle substantially declines over the long term. For safety reasons,it is necessary to design the suspension sys-tem parameters to increase the robustness of the system and decrease the sensitive of wheel noises.By applying UD and QPSO,the nominal-the-best signal-to-noise ratio of the sys-tem was increased from?48.17 to?34.05 dB.The rate of improvement was 29.31%.This study has demonstrated that the integration of UD and QPSO can successfully reveal the optimal solution of suspension parameters for solving the robust design problem of a railway vehicle suspension sys-tem.     

Analysis of vibration and frequency transmission of high speed EMU with flexible model

When the operation speed of the high-speed train increases and the weight of the carbody becomes lighter,not only does the sensitivity of the wheel/rail contact get higher,but also the vibration frequency range of the vehicle system gets enlarged and more frequencies are transmitted from the wheelset to the carbody.It is important to investigate the vibration characteristics and the dynamic frequency transmission from the wheel/rail interface to the carbody of the high-speed electric multi-uint（EMU）.An elastic highspeed vehicle dynamics model is established in which the carbody,bogieframes,and wheelsets are all dealt with as flexible body.A rigid high-speed vehicle dynamics model is set up to compare with the simulation results of the elastic model.In the rigid vehicle model,the carbody,bogieframes and wheelsets are treated as rigid component while the suspension and structure parameters are the same as used in the elastic model.The dynamic characteristic of the elastic high speed vehicle is investigated in time and frequency domains and the di ff erence of the acceleration,frequency distribution and transmission of the two types of models are presented.The results show that the spectrum power density of the vehicle decreases from the wheelset to the carbody and the acceleration transmission ratio is approximately from 1%to 10%for each suspension system.The frequency of the wheelset rotation is evident in the vibration of the flexible model and is transmitted from the wheelset to the bogieframe and to thecarbody.The results of the flexible model are more reasonable than that of the rigid model.A field test data of the high speed train are presented to verify the simulation results.It shows that the simulation results are coincident with the field test data.     

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF TWO-POINT CONTACT BETWEEN WHEEL AND RAIL

The elastic-plastic contact problem with rolling friction of wheel-rail is solved using the FE parametric quadratic programming method. Thus, the complex elastic-plastic contact problem can be calculated with high accuracy and efficiency, while the Hertz＇s hypothesis and the elastic semi-space assumption are avoided. Based on the ‘one-point＇ contact calculation of wheel-rail, the computational model of ‘two-point＇ contact are established and calculated when the wheel flange is close to the rail. In the case of ‘two-point＇ contact, the changing laws of wheelrail contact are introduced and contact forces in various load cases are carefully analyzed. The main reason of wheel flange wear and rail side wear is found. Lubrication computational model of the wheel flange is constructed. Comparing with the result without lubrication, the contact force between wheel flange and rail decreases, which is beneficial for reducing the wear of wheel-rail.     

Study on the subgrade deformation under high-speed train loading and water–soil interaction

It is important to study the subgrade characteristics of high-speed railways in consideration of the water–soil coupling dynamic problem,especially when high-speed trains operate in rainy regions.This study develops a nonlinear water–soil interaction dynamic model of slab track coupling with subgrade under high-speed train loading based on vehicle–track coupling dynamics.By using this model,the basic dynamic characteristics,including water–soil interaction and without water induced by the high-speed train loading,are studied.The main factors-the permeability coefficien and the porosity-influencin the subgrade deformation are investigated.The developed model can characterize the soil dynamic behaviour more realistically,especially when considering the influenc of water-rich soil.     

Interaction of subway LIM vehicle with ballasted track in polygonal wheel wear development

This paper develops a coupled dynamics model for a linear induction motor (LIM) vehicle and a subway track to investigate the influence of polygonal wheels of the vehicle on the dynamic behavior of the system. In the model, the vehicle is modeled as a multi-body system with 35 degrees of freedom. A Timoshenko beam is used to model the rails which are discretely supported by sleepers. The sleepers are modeled as rigid bodies with their vertical, lateral, and rolling motions being considered. In order to simulate the vehicle running along the track, a moving sleeper support model is introduced to simulate the excitation by the discrete sleeper supporters, in which the sleepers are assumed to move backward at a constant speed that is the same as the train speed. The Hertzian contact theory and the Shen- Hedrick-Elkins’ model are utilized to deal with the normal dynamic forces and the tangential forces between wheels and rails, respectively. In order to better characterize the linear metro system (LMS), Euler beam theory based on modal superposition method is used to model LIM and RP. The vertical electric magnetic force and the lateral restoring force between the LIM and RP are also taken into consideration. The former has gap-varying nonlinear characteristics, whilst the latter is considered as a constant restoring force of 1 kN. The numerical analysis considers the effect of the excitation due to polygonal wheels on the dynamic behavior of the system at different wear stages, in which the used data regarding the polygonal wear on the wheel tread are directly measured at the subway site.     

Influences of aerodynamic loads on hunting stability of high-speed railway vehicles and parameter studies

The influences of steady aerodynamic loads on hunting stability of high-speed railway vehicles were investigated in this study.A mechanism is suggested to explain the change of hunting behavior due to actions of aerodynamic loads：the aerodynamic loads can change the position of vehicle system（consequently the contact relations）,the wheel/rail normal contact forces,the gravitational restoring forces/moments and the creep forces/moments.A mathematical model for hunting stability incorporating such influences was developed.A computer program capable of incorporating the effects of aerodynamic loads based on the model was written,and the critical speeds were calculated using this program.The dependences of linear and nonlinear critical speeds on suspension parameters considering aerodynamic loads were analyzed by using the orthogonal test method,the results were also compared with the situations without aerodynamic loads.It is shown that the most dominant factors a ff ecting linear and nonlinear critical speeds are different whether the aerodynamic loads considered or not.The damping of yaw damper is the most dominant influencing factor for linear critical speeds,while the damping of lateral damper is most dominant for nonlinear ones.When the influences of aerodynamic loads are considered,the linear critical speeds decrease with the rise of cross wind velocity,whereas it is not the case for the nonlinear critical speeds.The variation trends of critical speeds with suspension parameters can be significantly changed by aerodynamic loads.Combined actions of aerodynamic loads and suspension parameters also a ff ect the critical speeds.The effects of such joint action are more obvious for nonlinear critical speeds.     

Dynamic analysis of axle box bearings on the high-speed train caused by wheel-rail excitation

To explore the impact of wheel-rail excitation on the dynamic performance of axle box bearings, a dynamic model of the high-speed train including axle box bearings is developed. Subsequently, the dynamic response characteristics of the axle box bearing are examined. The investigation focuses on the acceleration characteristics of bearing vibration under excitation of track irregularities and wheel flats. In addition, experiments on both normal and faulty bearings are conducted separately, and th...     

Performance enhancement of sandwich panels with honeycomb–corrugation hybrid core

The concept of combining metallic honeycomb with folded thin metallic sheets(corrugation) to construct a novel core type for lightweight sandwich structures is proposed. The honeycomb–corrugation hybrid core is manufactured by filling the interstices of aluminum corrugations with precision-cut trapezoidal aluminum honeycomb blocks, bonded together using epoxy glue. The performance of such hybrid-cored sandwich panels subjected to out-of-plane compression, transverse shear, and three-point bending is investigated, both experimentally and numerically. The strength and energy absorption of the sandwich are dramatically enhanced, compared to those of a sandwich with either empty corrugation or honeycomb core. The enhancement is induced by the beneficial interaction effects of honeycomb blocks and folded panels on improved buckling resistance as well as altered crushing modes at large plastic deformation.The present approach provides an effective method to further improve the mechanical properties of conventional honeycomb-cored sandwich constructions with low relative densities.     

Dynamic model of vertical vehicle-subgrade coupled system under secondary suspension

As it is known, track transportation can be divided into track system above and track system below. While the train is moving, the parts above and below are interacted and influenced. Therefore, in fact, the problem of track transportation is the match between the vehicle and the railway line system. In this paper, on a basis of dynamic analysis of the vehicle-subgrade model of vertical coupled system under primary suspension, utilizing track maintenance standard and simulating track irregularity excitation, the dynamic interaction of vehicle-track-subgrade system is researched in theory and dynamic model of the vertical vehicle-track-subgrade coupled system under secondary suspension is established by compatibility condition of deformation. Even this model considers the actual structure of a vehicle, also considers vibration characteristic of the substructure of track including subgrade and foundation. All these work want to be benefit for understanding and design about the dynamic characters of subgrade in high speed railway.     

Dynamic interactions of an integrated vehicle–electromagnetic energy harvester–tire system subject to uneven road excitations

An investigation is undertaken of an integrated mechanical-electromagnetic coupling system consisting of a rigid vehicle with heave, roll, and pitch motions, four electro-magnetic energy harvesters and four tires subject to uneven road excitations in order to improve the passengers' riding comfort and harvest the lost engine energy due to uneven roads. Following the derived mathematical formulations and the proposed solution approaches, the numerical simulations of this interaction system subject to a continuous sinusoidal road excitation and a single ramp impact are completed. The simulation results are presented as the dynamic response curves in the forms of the frequency spectrum and the time history, which reveals the complex interaction characteristics of the system for vibration reductions and energy harvesting performance. It has addressed the coupling effects on the dynamic characteristics of the integrated system caused by:(1) the natural modes and frequencies of the vehicle;(2) the vehicle rolling and pitching motions;(3) different road exci-tations on four wheels;(4) the time delay of a road ramp to impact both the front and rear wheels, etc., which cannot be tackled by an often used quarter vehicle model. The guide-lines for engineering applications are given. The developed coupling model and the revealed concept provide a means with analysis idea to investigate the details of four energy harvester motions for electromagnetic suspension designs in order to replace the current passive vehicle isolators and to harvest the lost engine energy. Potential further research directions are suggested for readers to consider in the future.     

Numerical analysis of dynamic response of vehicle–bridge coupled system on long-span continuous girder bridge

To systematically study the vehicle–bridge coupled dynamic response and its change rule with different parameters, a vehicle model with seven degrees of freedom was built and the total potential energy of vehicle space vibration system was deduced. Considering the stimulation of road roughness, the dynamic response equation of vehicle–bridge coupled system was established in accordance with the elastic system principle of total potential energy with stationary value and the ‘‘set-in-right-position' rule. On the basis of the self-compiled Fortran program and bridge engineering, the dynamic response of longspan continuous girder bridge under vehicle load was studied. This study also included the calculation of vehicle impact coefficient, evaluation of vibration comfort, and analysis of dynamic response parameters.Results show the impact coefficient changes with lane number and is larger than the value calculated by the ‘‘general code for design of highway bridges and culverts(China)'. The Dieckmann index of bridge vibration is also related to lane number, and the vibration comfort evaluation is good in normal conditions.The relevant conclusions from parametric analyses have practical significance to dynamic design and daily operation of long-span continuous girder bridges in expressways. Safety and comfort are expected to improve significantly with further control of the vibration of vehicle–bridge system.     

Development of a simulation model for dynamic derailment analysis of high-speed trains

The running safety of high-speed trains has become a major concern of the current railway research with the rapid development of high-speed railways around the world.The basic safety requirement is to prevent the derailment.The root causes of the dynamic derailment of highspeed trains operating in severe environments are not easy to identify using the field tests or laboratory experiments.Numerical simulation using an advanced train–track interaction model is a highly efficient and low-cost approach to investigate the dynamic derailment behavior and mechanism of high-speed trains.This paper presents a three-dimensional dynamic model of a high-speed train coupled with a ballast track for dynamic derailment analysis.The model considers a train composed of multiple vehicles and the nonlinear inter-vehicle connections.The ballast track model consists of rails,fastenings,sleepers,ballasts,and roadbed,which are modeled by Euler beams,nonlinear spring-damper elements,equivalent ballast bodies,and continuous viscoelastic elements,in which the modal superposition method was used to reduce the order of the partial differential equations of Euler beams.The commonly used derailment safety assessment criteria around the world are embedded in the simulation model.The train–track model was then used to investigate the dynamic derailment responses of a high-speed train passing over a buckled track,in which the derailmentmechanism and train running posture during the dynamic derailment process were analyzed in detail.The effects of train and track modelling on dynamic derailment analysis were also discussed.The numerical results indicate that the train and track modelling options have a significant effect on the dynamic derailment analysis.The inter-vehicle impacts and the track flexibility and nonlinearity should be considered in the dynamic derailment simulations.     

ELASTIC-PLASTIC DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF A CANTILEVER BEAM SUBJECTED TO OBLIQUE IMPACT AT ITS TIP

By employing large deformation governing equations expressed in the form of finite difference, the dynamic responses of an elastic, perfectly plastic cantilever subjected to an oblique impact at its tip was numerically studied. Through analyzing the instantaneous distribution of the yield function （φ = ｜M/Mo｜ ＋ （N/No）^2）, bending moment and axial force during the early stage of the response, the elastic-plastic deformation mechanism and the influence of axial component of an oblique impact on the dynamic response of a cantilever beam were discussed. The present analysis shows that the deformation mechanism of an elastic-plastic cantilever subjected to an oblique impact consists of four phases, i.e. ‘the expanding compressed plastic region＇ mode; the ‘generalized traveling plastic hinge＇ and ‘shrinking plastic region＇ mixed mode; the ‘stationary plastic hinge＇ mode and ‘elastic vibration＇ mode. Compared with the two-phase deformation mode obtained by using the rigid, perfectly plastic approach, the mode of shrinking plastic region that occurred instantly after the oblique impact and the mode of stationary hinge were both confirmed. The primary features of the deformation mechanism are captured by both analysis methods. It has also been found that the beam＇s deformation is mainly controlled by the axial component of the oblique impact in the early phase of the dynamic response, the deformation mechanism is obviously different from the case of a transverse impact. With further development of the response, the axial component attenuates rapidly and gives negligible contribution to the yielding of the beam cross-section. At the same time, the bending moments along the cantilever develop gradually and dominate the beam＇s deformation. The numerical results indicate that the mass, impact speed and oblique angle are the important factors that influence the elastic-plastic dynamic response of a cantilever beam.     

Nonlinear dynamic response of beam and its application in nanomechanical resonator

Nonlinear dynamic response of nanomechanical resonator is of very important characteristics in its application. Two categories of the tension-dominant and curvature-dominant nonlinearities are analyzed. The dynamic nonlinearity of four beam structures of nanomechanical resonator is quantitatively studied via a dimensional analysis approach. The dimensional analysis shows that for the nanomechanical resonator of tension-dominant nonlinearity, its dynamic nonlinearity decreases monotonically with increasing axial loading and increases monotonically with the increasing aspect ratio of length to thickness; the dynamic nonlinearity can only result in the hardening effects. However, for the nanomechanical resonator of the curvature-dominant nonlinearity, its dynamic nonlinearity is only dependent on axial loading. Compared with the tension-dominant nonlinearity, the curvature-dominant nonlinearity increases monotonically with increasing axial loading; its dynamic nonlinearity can result in both hardening and softening effects. The analysis on the dynamic nonlinearity can be very helpful to the tuning application of the nanomechanical resonator.     

Effects of hysteresis of static contact angle (HSCA) and boundary slip on the hydrodynamics of water striders

It is known that contact lines keep relatively still on solids until static contact angles exceed an interval of hysteresis of static contact angle(HSCA), and contact angles keep changing as contact lines relatively slide on the solid.Here, the effects of HSCA and boundary slip were first distinguished on the micro-curvature force(MCF) on the seta.Hence, the total MCF is partitioned into static and dynamic MCFs correspondingly. The static MCF was found proportional to the HSCA and related with the asymmetry of the micro-meniscus near the seta. The dynamic MCF, exerting on the relatively sliding contact line, is aroused by the boundary slip. Based on the Blake–Haynes mechanism, the dynamic MCF was proved important for water walking insects with legs slower than the minimum wave speed 23 cm · s-1. As insects brush the water by laterally swinging legs backwards,setae on the front side of the leg are pulled and the ones on the back side are pushed to cooperatively propel bodies forward.If they pierce the water surface by vertically swinging legs downwards, setae on the upside of the legs are pulled, and the ones on the downside are pushed to cooperatively obtain a jumping force. Based on the dependency between the slip length and shear rate, the dynamic MCF was found correlated with the leg speed U, as F~C_1 U + C_2U~(2+ε), where C_1 and C_2 are determined by the dimple depth. Discrete points on this curve could give fitted relations as F~U~b(Suter et al., J. Exp. Biol. 200, 2523–2538, 1997). Finally,the axial torque on the inclined and partially submerged seta was found determined by the surface tension, contact angle,HSCA, seta width, and tilt angle. The torque direction coincides with the orientation of the spiral grooves of the seta,which encourages us to surmise it is a mechanical incentive for the formation of the spiral morphology of the setae of water striders.     

Elastic–plastic behavior of a semicircular frame being pressed against a rigid plane

As a simplified structural model, a semicircular frame is used to study the crashworthiness behavior of an aircraft fuselage. The quasi-static large elastic-plastic deformation of a semicircular frame in the process of its being pressed against a rigid ground is analyzed. First, based on the linear elastic assumption, the quasi-static large deformation contact process of the frame can be divided into three phases, i.e., point contact, line contact and post-buckling. By means of a shooting method, the relations between the displacement and contact force as well as the distribution of bending moment in the three phases are obtained. Then, by assuming an elastic, perfectly-plastic moment-curvature relationship for the semi-circular frame, the contact process is analyzed in detail to reveal the plastic collapse mechanism, the traveling of plastic hinge and the force-displacement relationship. In order to verify the analysis, a preliminary experiment was conducted, in which two types of half rings with clamped ends were pressed by a rigid plate. In addition, a numerical simulation is also conducted by employing ABAQUS to analyze both rectangular cross-sectional beam and I-beam. Finally, the theoretical predictions are compared with the experimental results and numerical solutions, showing that the elastic-plastic analysis can predict the contact process very well.     

Coupled lateral-torsional-axial vibrations of a helical gear-rotor-bearing system

Considering the axial and radial loads, a math- ematical model of angular contact ball bearing is deduced with Hertz contact theory. With the coupling effects of lateral, torsional and axial vibrations taken into account, a lumped-parameter nonlinear dynamic model of helical gearrotor-bearing system （HGRBS） is established to obtain the transmission system dynamic response to the changes of dif- ferent parameters. The vibration differential equations of the drive system are derived through the Lagrange equation, which considers the kinetic and potential energies, the dis- sipative function and the internal/external excitation. Based on the Runge-Kutta numerical method, the dynamics of the HGRBS is investigated, which describes vibration properties of HGRBS more comprehensively. The results show that the vibration amplitudes have obvious fluctuation, and the frequency multiplication and random frequency components become increasingly obvious with changing rotational speed and eccentricity at gear and bearing positions. Axial vibration of the HGRBS also has some fluctuations. The bearing has self-variable stiffness frequency, which should be avoided in engineering design. In addition, the bearing clearance needs little attention due to its slightly discernible effect on vibration response. It is suggested that a careful examination should be made in modelling the nonlinear dynamic behavior of a helical gear-rotor-bearing system.     

Non-smooth dynamic modeling and simulation of an unmannedbicycle on a curved pavement

The non-smooth dynamic model of an unmanned bicycle is established to study the contact-separate and stick-slip non-smooth phenomena between wheels and the ground.According to the Carvallo-Whipple configuration,the unmanned bicycle is reduced to four rigid bodies,namely,rear wheel,rear frame,front fork,and front wheel,which are connected by perfect revolute joints.The interaction between each wheel and the ground is simplified as the normal contact force and the friction force at the contact point,and these forces are described by the Hunt-Crossley contact force model and the Lu Gre friction force model,respectively.According to the characteristics of flat and curved pavements,calculation methods for contact forces and their generalized forces are presented.The dynamics of the system is modeled by the Lagrange equations of the first kind,a numerical solution algorithm of the dynamic equations is presented,and the Baumgarte stabilization method is used to restrict the drift of the constraints.The correctness of the dynamic model and the numerical algorithm is verified in comparison with the previous studies.The feasibility of the proposed model is demonstrated by simulations under different motion states.