Reducing wheel wear of a motorised metro car on a curved track with a small curve radius

Abstract

A structural solution was proposed to enable passive control of the wheelsets of a motorised metro car on curved track with a small curve radius. This effect was achieved by varying the stiffness of the guidance of the wheelsets in the horizontal plane of the frame of each bogie on which the wagon body rests. This ensured the required critical speed of the metro wagon when moving on straight track, and allowed for reduced mechanical wheel wear and better steering of the bogies when moving on curved track with a small radius of curvature. Parameters specific to the design of modern metro cars were taken into account. Current knowledge of non-linear lateral dynamics of rail vehicles and the specialist computer programme Vi-Rail were used to perform the calculations involving simulation models.