Wheel/rail impacts at a railway turnout crossing

Author(s):  
C Andersson ◽  
T Dahlberg

The vertical dynamics of a common Swedish railway turnout under the load of moving vehicles is investigated. The turnout is described by a linear finite element model with modal damping. The model of the turnout (a section of it) has a length of 36 sleeper spans surrounding the crossing. Rails and sleepers are modelled with uniform Rayleigh-Timoshenko beam elements. The rails are connected via railpads (linear springs) to the sleepers, which rest on an elastic foundation. The vehicles which model the dynamic behaviour of trains are discrete systems of masses, springs and dampers. They pass the turnout on the through rails at a constant speed and only vertical dynamics (including roll and pitch motions) is studied. The wheel/rail contact is modelled by use of a non-linear Hertzian spring. The train/track interaction problem is solved numerically by using an extended state space vector approach in conjunction with modal superposition for the turnout. The analyses show that the rail discontinuity at the crossing leads to an increase in the wheel/rail contact force. Both smooth and irregular transitions of the wheels from the wing rail to the crossing nose have been examined for varying speeds of the vehicle. Under perfect conditions, the wheels will change quite smoothly from rolling on the wing rail to rolling on the nose. The impact at the crossing will then be small, giving a maximum wheel/rail contact force which is only 30-50 per cent larger than the static contact force. For uneven transitions, the severity of the impact loading at the crossing depends strongly on the train speed. The increase in the contact force, as compared with the static force, is of the order of 100 per cent at 70 km/h and 200 per cent at 150 km/h.

Author(s):  
Xing Xing ◽  
Brian F. Feeny

The complex modes of an end-damped cantilevered beam are studied as an experimental example of a non-modally damped continuous system. An eddy-current damper was applied considering its noncontact and linear properties. The state-variable modal decomposition (SVMD) is applied to extract the modes from the impact responses in the cantilevered beam experiments. Characteristics of the mode shapes and modal damping are examined for various values of the damping coefficient. The modal frequencies and mode shapes obtained from the experiments have a good consistency with the results of the finite-element model. The variation of damping ratio and modal nonsynchronicity with varying damping coefficient also follow the prediction of the model. Over the range of damping coefficients studied in the experiments, we observe a maximum damping ratio in the lowest underdamped mode, which correlates with the maximum modal nonsynchronicity. Complex orthogonal decomposition (COD) is applied in comparison to the modal idenfication results obtained from SVMD.


Author(s):  
Gustavo Simão Rodrigues ◽  
Hans Ingo Weber ◽  
Larissa Driemeier

There are many models of impact used to predict the post-impact conditions of a system and all of them are based on Hertz’s theory, dated from the nineteenth century, where the repulsive force is proportional to the deformation of the bodies under contact and may also be proportional to the rate of deformation. The objective of this work is to analyze the behavior of the bodies during impact using some contact models and compare the results to a Finite Element Method model. The main parameters which will be evaluated are the body velocities, the contact force and the deformation of the bodies. An advantage of using the Finite Element Method is the possibility to apply plastic deformation to the model according to material definition. In the present study, it will be used Johnson–Cook plasticity model where the parameters are obtained based on empirical tests of real materials. Thus, it is possible to compare the behavior of elastic and plastic numerical models with the finite element model and to verify how these models reproduce the impact between solid bodies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xing Xing ◽  
Brian F. Feeny

The complex modes of an end-damped cantilevered beam are studied as an experimental example of a nonmodally damped continuous system. An eddy-current damper is applied, for its noncontact and linear properties, to the end of the beam, and is then characterized to obtain the effective damping coefficient. The state-variable modal decomposition (SVMD) is applied to extract the modes from the impact responses in the cantilevered beam experiments. Characteristics of the mode shapes and modal damping are examined for various values of the end-damper damping coefficient. The modal frequencies and mode shapes obtained from the experiments have a good consistency with the results of the finite element model. The variation of the modal damping ratio and modal nonsynchronicity with varying end-damper damping coefficient also follow the prediction of the model. Over the range of damping coefficients studied in the experiments, we observe a maximum damping ratio in the lowest underdamped mode, which correlates with the maximum modal nonsynchronicity. Complex orthogonal decomposition (COD) is applied in comparison to the modal identification results obtained from SVMD.


Author(s):  
Hao Yin ◽  
Yu Qian ◽  
J. Riley Edwards ◽  
Kaijun Zhu

Reducing the allowable operating speed or imposing temporary speed restrictions are common practices to prevent further damage to rail track when defects are detected related to certain track components. However, the speeds chosen for restricted operation are typically based on past experience without considering the magnitude of the impact load around the rail joints. Due to the discontinuity of geometry and track stiffness at the bolted rail joints, an impact load always exists. Thus, slower speeds may not necessarily reduce the stresses at the critical locations around the rail joint area to a safe level. Previously, the relationship between speed and the impact load around the rail joints has not been thoroughly investigated. Recent research performed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has focused on investigating the rail response to load at the joint area. A finite element model (FEM) with the capability of simulating a moving wheel load has been developed to better understand the stress propagation at the joint area under different loading scenarios and track structures. This study investigated the relationship between train speed and impact load and corresponding stress propagation around the rail joints to better understand the effectiveness of speed restrictions for bolted joint track. Preliminary results from this study indicate that the contact force at the wheel–rail interface would not change monotonically with the changing train speed. In other words, when train speed is reduced, the maximum contact force at the wheel–rail interface may not necessarily reduce commensurately.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yury A. Rossikhin ◽  
Marina V. Shitikova ◽  
Phan Thanh Trung

In the present paper, the problem on impact of a viscoelastic sphere against a viscoelastic plate is considered with due account for the extension of plate’s middle surface and local bearing of sphere and plate’s materials via the Hertz theory. The standard linear solid models with conventional derivatives and with fractional-order derivatives are used as viscoelastic models, respectively, outside and within the contact domain. As a result of impact, transient waves (surfaces of strong discontinuity) are generated in the plate, behind the wave fronts of which up to the boundaries of the contact domain the solution is constructed in terms of one-term ray expansions due to short-time duration of the impact process. The motion of the contact zone occurs under the action of extension forces acting in the plate’s middle surface, transverse force, and the Hertzian contact force. The suggested approach allows one to find the time-dependence of the impactor’s indentation into the target and the Hertzian contact force.


Author(s):  
Kevin Darques ◽  
Abdelmounaïm Tounzi ◽  
Yvonnick Le-menach ◽  
Karim Beddek

Purpose This paper aims to go deeper on the analysis of the shaft voltage of large turbogenerators. The main interest of this study is the investigation process developed. Design/methodology/approach The analysis of the shaft voltage because of several defects is based on a two-dimensional (2D) finite element modeling. This 2D finite element model is used to determine the shaft voltage because of eccentricities or rotor short-circuit. Findings Dynamic eccentricities and rotor short circuit do not have an inherent impact on the shaft voltage. Circulating currents in the stator winding because of defects impact the shaft voltage. Originality/value The original value of this paper is the investigation process developed. This study proposes to quantify the impact of a smooth stator and then to explore the contribution of the real stator winding on the shaft voltage.


Author(s):  
P. Flores ◽  
J. Ambro´sio ◽  
J. C. P. Claro ◽  
H. M. Lankarani

This work deals with a methodology to assess the influence of the spherical clearance joints in spatial multibody systems. The methodology is based on the Cartesian coordinates, being the dynamics of the joint elements modeled as impacting bodies and controlled by contact forces. The impacts and contacts are described by a continuous contact force model that accounts for geometric and mechanical characteristics of the contacting surfaces. The contact force is evaluated as function of the elastic pseudo-penetration between the impacting bodies, coupled with a nonlinear viscous-elastic factor representing the energy dissipation during the impact process. A spatial four bar mechanism is used as an illustrative example and some numerical results are presented, being the efficiency of the developed methodology discussed in the process of their presentation. The results obtained show that the inclusion of clearance joints in the modelization of spatial multibody systems significantly influences the prediction of components’ position and drastically increases the peaks in acceleration and reaction moments at the joints. Moreover, the system’s response clearly tends to be nonperiodic when a clearance joint is included in the simulation.


Author(s):  
Ali Sepehri ◽  
Kambiz Farhang

Three dimensional elastic-plastic contact of two nominally flat rough surfaces is considered. Equations governing the shoulder-shoulder contact of asperities are derived based on the asperity-asperity constitutive relations from a finite element model of their elastic-plastic interaction. Shoulder-shoulder asperity contact yields a slanted contact force consisting of both tangential (parallel to mean plane) and normal components. Multiscale modeling of the elastic-plastic rough surface contact is presented in which asperity-level FE-based constitutive relations are statistically summed to obtain total force in the normal and tangential direction. The equations derived are in the form of integral functions and provide expectation of contact force components between two rough surfaces. An analytical fusion technique is developed to combine the piecewise asperity level constitutive relations. This is shown to yield upon statistical summation the cumulative effect resulting in the contact force between two rough surfaces with two components, one in the normal direction and a half-plane tangential component.


1985 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Harris ◽  
M. A. Dokainish ◽  
D. S. Weaver

A simplified finite element has been developed for modeling the added mass and inertial coupling arising when clusters of cylinders vibrate in a quiescent fluid. The element, which is based on two-dimensional potential flow theory, directly couples two adjacent beam elements representing portions of the adjacent cylindrical structures. The primary advantage of this approach over existing methods is that it does not require the discretization of the surrounding fluid and, therefore, is computationally much more efficient. The fundamental frequencies of tube bundles of various pitch ratios have been predicted using this method and compared with experimental data. Generally, the agreement is good, especially for the bandwidth of fluid coupled natural frequencies. The transient response of tube bundles is also examined using time integration of the finite element model. The beating phenomenon and time decay characteristics exhibited by the experimental bundles under single-tube excitation are well predicted and valuable insights are gained into the measurement of damping in tube bundles.


Author(s):  
Nilgoon Zarei ◽  
Albert M. Leung ◽  
John D. Jones

This paper reports modeling a new design of Thermal MEMS gyroscope through the use of the Comsol Multiphysics software package. Being very small and having no movable parts have made thermal MEMS gyroscope very practical. Previously designed Thermal MEMS gyroscope shows some limitation such as being vulnerable to gravity force. Finding a technique to increase the range of thermal MEMS gyroscope reliability motivated us to come up with a new design that we will refer to as the ‘Forced Convection MEMS gyroscope’. A two-dimensional finite-element model of the device has been developed to investigate its performance. An external force has been introduced to the system to create a higher-velocity hot gas stream that will be deviated more in response to rotation. The external force should be great enough that convection currents resulting from gravity or acceleration will have minimal impact on the gyroscope sensitivity. A heating element can still be used, but its primary purpose is now to warm the flowing gas so that it can be detected by the sensors. In this paper we will also show that, in order to completely eliminate the impact of gravity and increase the sensitivity of the gyroscope, it is possible to eliminate the heaters entirely and instead use heated sensors to detect gas currents. In other words, the sensors are working as hot-wire anemometers. Our simulations suggest that this design variant results in higher sensitivity. We have also carried out optimization studies to identify the best location for the heaters and sensors. A prototype of this device has been fabricated based on MEMS techniques, and an external pump is used to produce an oscillating gas flow within the device.


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