Experimental and numerical investigation on the derailment of a railway wheelset with solid axle

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental and numerical investigation on the derailment of a railway wheelset with solid axle. Tests were carried out under quasi-steady-state conditions, on a full-scale roller rig, and allowed to point out the effect of different parameters like the wheelset's angle of attack and the ratio between the vertical loads acting on the flanging and non-flanging wheels. On the basis of the test results, some existing derailment criteria are analysed in this paper and two new criteria are proposed. A model of wheel–rail contact is proposed for the mathematical modelling of the flange climb process, and numerical vs. experimental comparisons are used to obtain model validation.

Keywords:

• Experimental derailment tests
• Numerical prediction of derailment
• Derailment criteria
• Solid axle wheelset
• Wheel–rail contact model

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to greatly acknowledge Lucchini Sidermeccanica S.p.A. for permitting the use of BU300 roller rig for this research. The help provided by Dr. Ing. S. Cervello, Dr. Ing. D. Sala, Mr. N. Cortinovis and Mr. D. Bertolotti is also gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

^†The actual value of the friction coefficient changed from one test to the other because of variations of the surface conditions. The measurements of the friction coefficient showed that its value changed in the range of 0.45–0.55.