Hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) is one of the high-tech approaches that combines theory, numerical simulation, software, digital communications, data acquisition, instrumentation and control to give a mechatronic system. Such a system can be utilised to simplify development and design processes for complex systems as well as their testing and validation, which allows reduction or, in some cases, avoidance of the high cost of real field tests. It is well known that the automotive industry has implemented HILS widely in their research projects and investigations, but what is a situation with HILS in railway research?
Recent publications Citation1–7 show that the quantity of papers in this field is significantly increased and it is possible to predict that, over the next 5–10 years, HILS will be one of the most required tools for rail vehicle design, much as multibody software is at the present time.
For the development of HILS solutions, researchers should have deep multidisciplinary knowledge and a good background in mechanical, electrical and computer science. The components of HILS solutions for rail applications are almost the same as for automotive ones, but the rail vehicle presents additional challenges as it is more complex and contains many more non-linearities and uncertainties. In addition, the common use of friction damping components in rail suspensions present more challenges to the numerical solvers and calculation speed. One key area of research is how to achieve numerical solutions of existing wheel/rail contact models at sufficient speed for real-time applications. Another issue is how to take into consideration the train dynamics (many vehicles are involved in the train operation process)? Or more, how to develop a real-time model in order to describe the contact mechanics for pantograph systems and how to test them? The list of uncertainties can become very lengthy.
Based on the current state in this field and the editors’ personal experience, the following topics of the special issue have been proposed:
| • | hardware and software development for the HILS approach; | ||||
| • | numerical integrators; | ||||
| • | real-time wheel-rail contact models; | ||||
| • | real-time software for rail vehicle dynamics; | ||||
| • | real-time simulation of electric systems for rail vehicles; | ||||
| • | real-time simulation approaches and multibody simulation software; | ||||
| • | HIL prototyping of complex system(s) and their component(s); | ||||
| • | test automation processes based on HILS; | ||||
| • | communication interfaces between software and hardware products; | ||||
| • | correlation between scaled test rig models and full-size systems for rail dynamics applications; | ||||
| • | experimental application of the HILS approach. | ||||
Not all proposed topics have been covered by this issue, but the publications presented here provide some answers to the proposed topics above and present the current situation with HILS in the field of railway transport. It is possible to say definitely that there are still other topics and many new directions for future research in this area.
We would like to thank all authors who have published their ideas and research results; we also hope that readers will enjoy the papers.
January, 2013
References
- Pugi , L. , Malvezzi , M. , Tarasconi , A. , Palazzolo , A. , Cocci , G. and Violani , M. 2006 . HIL simulation of WSP systems on MI-6 test rig . Veh. Syst. Dyn. , 44 ( Suppl. 1 ) : 843 – 852 . (doi:10.1080/00423110600886937)
- Meli , E. , Malvezzi , M. , Papini , S. , Pugi , L. , Rinchi , M. and Rindi , A. 2008 . A railway vehicle multibody model for real-time applications . Veh. Syst. Dyn. , 46 ( 12 ) : 1083 – 1105 . (doi:10.1080/00423110701790756)
- Maki , Y. , Shimomura , T. and Sasaki , K. 2009 . Building a railway vehicle model for hardware-in-the-loop simulation . Quart. Rep. RTRI , 50 ( 4 ) : 193 – 198 . (doi:10.2219/rtriqr.50.193)
- Kang , C. G. , Kim , H. Y. , Kim , M. S. and Goo , B. C. Real-time simulations of a railroad brake system using a dSPACE board . Proceedings of the ICROS-SICE International Joint Conference 2009, Fukuoka, Japan . pp. 4073 – 4078 .
- Watanabe , N. , Maki , Y. , Shimomura , T. , Sasaki , K. , Tohtake , T. and Morishita , H. 2011 . Hardware-in-the-loop simulation system for duplication of actual running conditions of a multiple-car train consist . Quart. Rep. RTRI , 52 ( 1 ) : 1 – 6 . (doi:10.2219/rtriqr.52.1)
- Bosso , N. , Gugliotta , A. , Somà , A. and Spiryagin , M. 2011 . Model of scaled test rig for real time applications . Proceedings of the 21st Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Engineering COBEM2011 . 2011 , Natal , RN , Brazil.
- Spiryagin , M. , Sun , Y. Q. , Cole , C. , McSweeney , T. , Simson , S. and Persson , I. 2013 . Development of a real-time bogie test rig model based on railway specialised multibody software . Veh. Syst. Dyn. , 51 ( 2 ) : 236 – 250 . (doi:10.1080/00423114.2012.724176)