On the dynamics of European two-axle railway freight wagons

The standardized design of European two-axle freight wagons has been used since the 1890s. The basic construction is a carbody suspended on leaf springs by a system of links working as pendulums. The internationally approved suspension system for these vehicles is the UIC standard suspension. The design is advantageous because it is simple, cheap, and robust. Despite the simple design, its influence on the dynamic performance of the vehicle is highly intricate due to dry friction damping and motion delimiters causing impacts. This paper deals with the dynamic behavior of European two-axle freight wagons analyzed through the use of a multibody model developed specifically for this purpose. The modeling of the vehicle and the integration of the dynamic equations of motion are far from trivial due to the complicated nature of the interacting forces. The model exhibits interesting bifurcation patterns emphasizing the complexity of the dynamic behavior of these wagons.