A new approach to define criteria for rail vehicle model validation

Abstract

Validation of railway vehicle models is an important condition for the application of multi-body system simulations in the context of vehicle authorisation. Validation investigations carried out in the DynoTRAIN project represent a unique investigation. The measurements, received from a set of vehicles running through four European countries equipped with a simultaneous recording of track irregularities and rail profiles, were compared with simulations using vehicle models built in different simulation tools by several partners. The presented analyses resulted in a proposal of model validation based on 12 quantities covering the quasi-static and dynamic wheel/rail force measurements and vertical as well as lateral vehicle body accelerations. For each quantity, a set of at least 24 comparisons between simulations and measurements are evaluated using values based on EN 14363 from at least 12 sections, which represent all 4 test zones according to EN 14363. The proposed method, criteria and limit values are intended for the validation of vehicle models applied in the vehicle acceptance process.

• validation
• multi-body systems
• railway vehicle
• running dynamics
• vehicle acceptance
• authorisation

Acknowledgements

This article describes work undertaken in the context of the DynoTRAIN project, Railway Vehicle Dynamics and Track Interactions: Total Regulatory Acceptance for the Interoperable Network (http://www.triotrain.eu). DynoTRAIN is a collaborative project – medium-scale focused research project supported by the European 7th Framework Programme, contract number: 234079 and is led by UNIFE. The authors thank all partners involved in the presented investigations for their contribution in developing the proposal for the model validation process and criteria presented in this article.