Influence of out-of-round wheels on the vehicle–flexible track interaction at rail welds

Abstract

The dynamic analysis of the vehicle–flexible track interaction involves the study of vehicle motion and its dynamic impact transmitted to the track structure. This paper studies the influence of the out-of-round vehicle wheels running over rail welds on a flexible ballast track. The rails are modeled as an Euler-Bernoulli beam discretely supported by a spring-damper force element that represents the flexibility of the track structure. The dynamic behavior of the vehicle–flexible track interaction is studied using the combination of the finite element method and the multi-body system. In this paper, the simulation of the vehicle with the out-of-roundness wheel running over rail welds on a flexible ballast track in the high-frequency range and the vehicle–track interaction is coupled by a non-linear wheel–rail contact model. The effects of the out-of-roundness wheel on the vehicle–flexible track interaction at rail welds are investigated by comparing the effects of the round wheel under different vehicle speeds. Results indicate that the out-of-roundness wheel at rail welds creates a high magnitude dynamic effect on the vehicle and track components. The obtained simulation results were used to set a safety limitation for the wheel and rail irregularity size.