Aspects of design and calculation of a railway track intended for dedicated passenger lines

The article considers issues of application of dedicated passenger lines for intertown and interregional transportation on the railways of the Russian Federation, which in the future will accelerate passenger traffic due to changes in transportation technology, increase the carrying and throughput capacity of railways, reduce construction costs and current maintenance, and optimize the need for infrastructure development. The structures of the track superstructure used for the transportation process at the present time were developed and implemented taking into account the mixed traffic — passenger and freight. Growth of axle loads in freight traffic, as well as the length of trains, presupposes the strengthening (weighting) of the standard structures of the railway track to possibly ensure the guaranteed safe passage of more than 1 billion gross tonnage. At the same time, exclusively for passenger traffic, the typical design of the railway track is redundant and can be optimized in terms of reducing the materials of the track superstructure with a simultaneous change in the configuration of repair schemes and current maintenance conditions. The article presents an assessing the possibility of using a “passenger” track structure on dedicated passenger lines for intertown and interregional transportation according to the criteria of the allowable margin of safety in the environment of fnite element analysis — the most progressive method for calculating structures undergoing complex loading. The article presents the results of calculations of the stress-strain state of a railway track of various confgurations, including promising lightweight versions with R50 rails and reinforced concrete sleepers with under sleeper pads. Based on the calculations performed, recommendations are given for the areas of application of the considered track confgurations from the point of view of permissible stresses in its elements.

Experimental and modelling studies of the transient tribological behaviour of a two-phase lubricant under complex loading conditions

The transient tribological phenomenon and premature lubricant breakdown have been widely observed in metal forming, leading to excessive friction at the contact interfaces. In this research, the transient tribological behaviour of a two-phase lubricant were studied under complex loading conditions, featuring abrupt interfacial temperature, contact load, and sliding speed changes, thus representing the severe interfacial conditions observed in warm/hot metal forming applications. The strong experimental evidence indicates that the evolution of friction was attributed to the physical diminution and chemical decomposition effects. As such, a visco-mechanochemical interactive friction model was developed to accurately predict the transient tribological behaviour of the two-phase lubricant under complex loading conditions. The new friction model exhibited close agreements between the modelling and experimental results.

Design of Low Cost Carbon Fiber Composites via Examining the Micromechanical Stress Distributions in A42 Bean-Shaped versus T650 Circular Fibers

Recent advancements have led to new polyacrylonitrile carbon fiber precursors which reduce production costs, yet lead to bean-shaped cross-sections. While these bean-shaped fibers have comparable stiffness and ultimate strength values to typical carbon fibers, their unique morphology results in varying in-plane orientations and different microstructural stress distributions under loading, which are not well understood and can limit failure strength under complex loading scenarios. Therefore, this work used finite element simulations to compare longitudinal stress distributions in A42 (bean-shaped) and T650 (circular) carbon fiber composite microstructures. Specifically, a microscopy image of an A42/P6300 microstructure was processed to instantiate a 3D model, while a Monte Carlo approach (which accounts for size and in-plane orientation distributions) was used to create statistically equivalent A42/P6300 and T650/P6300 microstructures. First, the results showed that the measured in-plane orientations of the A42 carbon fibers for the analyzed specimen had an orderly distribution with peaks at |ϕ|=0∘,180∘. Additionally, the results showed that under 1.5% elongation, the A42/P6300 microstructure reached simulated failure at approximately 2108 MPa, while the T650/P6300 microstructure did not reach failure. A single fiber model showed that this was due to the curvature of A42 fibers which was 3.18 μm−1 higher at the inner corner, yielding a matrix stress that was 7 MPa higher compared to the T650/P6300 microstructure. Overall, this analysis is valuable to engineers designing new components using lower cost carbon fiber composites, based on the micromechanical stress distributions and unique packing abilities resulting from the A42 fiber morphologies.

Experimental study of the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect under complex loading of Al-Mg alloy: procedure issues

The aim of this work is to solve the methodological issues of the experimental study of the nucleation and propagation of deformation bands due to the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect under conditions of complex loading. It is of interest to determine the boundaries of unstable plastic deformation of the AMg6 alloy under complex loading conditions. A technique for controlling the loading process with a given rate of deformation intensity of materials has been worked out. The results showed that short-term stops and unloading during loading influence on the value of critical deformation, at which the manifestation of the jerky flow begins. The evolution of inhomogeneous strain fields and local strain rates under conditions of manifestation of jerky flow during tension with torsion tests of Al-Mg alloy samples.

Calculation of transient temperature and rated capacity of three-phase induction motor under different working systems

This paper aims to propose a method to determine the temperature rise and rated capacity of induction motors under different working systems. A dynamic mathematical model, a 3D temperature field model, and finite element method are used to analyze the electromagnetic loss and transient temperature rise, respectively. The influence of the motor starting process on the temperature rise is taken into account, which resolves the complex loading of transient heat source. The maximum allowable running times for the motor operating with different overloads are determined. The relationship between the motor output power and the allowable running time is obtained, and it provides a basis to determine the rated capacity of motor under S2 working system. The relationship between the motor output power and the temperature rise under different load duration rates is also obtained and provides reasonable evidence to determine the rated capacity of the motor under S3-working system.

Теоретичні та експериментальні методи визначення характеристик міцності лопаток турбін при термомеханічному навантаженні

The subject of this article is the methods of research and evaluation of the properties of turbine blades of a cooled structure under thermomechanical loading. The purpose of the article is to review the world achievements of leading enterprises and research institutions in the issue of fatigue tests of turbine blades under complex loading (cyclic temperature exposure, dynamic and static loading), as well as an overview of the state of this topic at SE "Ivchenko-Progress" and suggestions for its further studying. As a result of the analysis of publications and scientific articles, it can be concluded that specialized research institutes and leading aircraft engine-building enterprises from the end of the twentieth century are studying the properties of turbine blades in the conditions of their operation as part of an engine. In world practice, there are calculated and experimental methods for thermomechanical testing of turbine blades. These tests are aimed at determining the most damaging loads, establishing the flight cycle modes at which these loads are recorded. As a result, it was found that the greatest threat to the strength of the turbine blades is carried by transient modes of engine operation, which are short in time (measured in seconds), but at which there is a change in the parameters of the temperature field, loads from axial and centrifugal forces. And it is the cycling of these parameters that leads to a decrease in the cyclic durability of the turbine blades, especially of the cooled structure (the presence of perforations, internal cooling channels, and other structural elements leads to a complication of the volumetric stress state of the blades). The article analyzes various crystallographic structures of blades and their relationship with the volumetric stress state; examples of studies that were carried out at SE "Ivchenko-Progress" and their results are given, which emphasize the need for further experiments in the field of assessing strength characteristics under complex cyclic loading. An example of an installation for testing blade joints and samples of gears is considered, which can be adapted for testing blades with three-component loading (temperature, dynamic loads, and imitation of the effect of centrifugal forces). It is concluded that when using exclusively computational methods, it is impossible to reliably estimate the level of stresses and their distribution since the calculations are limited by the boundary conditions, which are set according to the capabilities of a particular computational model. Summing up, it can be noted that it is advisable to start assessing the strength of blades under thermomechanical loading with several series of tests of samples of blade material to study the effect of temperature and power cycles of loads, the effect of the orientation of the load vector concerning the crystallographic orientation of the blade. It is noted that tests of full-scale blades under thermomechanical loading are also important since the features of the volumetric stress state of the material during real operation of the blades as part of an engine are not reproduced during testing of samples. The above entails the development of methods and specialized installations for thermomechanical testing.

Tunnel failure mechanism during loading and unloading processes through physical model testing and DEM simulation

Geo-materials may present varying mechanical properties under different stress paths, especially for tunnel excavation, which is typically characterized by the decreased radial stress and increased axial stress during the complex loading and unloading process. This study carried out a comparative analysis between the loading and unloading model testing, which was then combined with PFC2D simulation, aiming to reveal the fracture propagation pattern, microscopic stress and force chain distribution of the rock mass surrounding the tunnel. Comparisons of extents and development of tensile strain between loading and unloading testing results were made. The overall stability, the integrity of rock mass, and the failure pattern transition under loading and unloading processes were systematically examined. In addition, for the two unloading cases with different vertical stresses imposed, the failure patterns were both identified as the collapse of the V − shaped extruded sidewall, due to the coupling of the shear failure and the vertical tensile failure in the sidewall wedge.