Fatigue design of rubber springs used in rail vehicle suspensions

Abstract

Rubber-to-metal bonded springs are vital antivibration components for rail vehicles. Metacone rubber springs are widely used as a primary spring on a rail vehicle fitted at the wheel axle box. Nowadays the more demanding operating environment has made the design of such components more challenging than ever before. By using an integrated design-simulation-testing procedure it is possible to achieve the maximum fatigue capacity of the suspension components under a very tight space envelope. This note illustrates the procedure to achieve the high performance and the fatigue service life requirements for the suspension components.