Dynamics of railway wagons subjected to braking/traction torque

Abstract

Braking or traction torque is regarded as an important source of wheelset skid and a potential source of derailment risk that adversely affects the safety levels of train operations; therefore, this research examines the effect of braking/traction torque to the longitudinal and lateral dynamics of wagons. This paper reports how train operations safety could be adversely affected due to various braking strategies. Sensitivity of wagon dynamics to braking severity is illustrated through numerical examples. The influence of wheel/rail interface friction coefficient and the effects of two types of track geometry defects on wheel unloading ratio and wagon pitch are also discussed in the paper.

Keywords:

• braking/traction torque
• derailment potential
• wheel unloading
• wheelset skid
• track irregularity
• wagon pitch

Acknowledgements

This work is a part of ongoing research on the effect of brake force application to the wagon and bogie dynamics funded by the Centre for Railway Engineering (CRE), Central Queensland University (CQU), Australia. The CRE scholarship to the first author is gratefully acknowledged.