A three-dimensional approach for contact detection between realistic wheel and rail surfaces for improved railway dynamic analysis. (July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Marques, Filipe; Magalhães, Hugo; Pombo, João; Ambrósio, Jorge; Flores, Paulo
• Is Part Of: Mechanism and machine theory. Volume 149(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-07
• Subjects: Wheel-rail contact -- Contact detection -- Conformal contact -- Railway dynamics; Machine theory -- Periodicals; Machinery -- Periodicals; Machines -- Périodiques; Génie mécanique -- Périodiques; Machine theory; Machinery; Periodicals; 621.81
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mechmachtheory.2020.103825
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0094-114X

Abstract

Highlights: A novel approach for contact detection between wheel and rail is proposed. The proposed approach allows to consider the actual wheel profile. This approach is compared with the minimum distance method. The effectiveness of the proposed method is shown through dynamic simulations. Abstract: The wheel-rail contact modeling problem assumes a preponderant role on the dynamic analysis of railway systems using multibody systems formulations. The accurate and efficient evaluation of both location and magnitude of the wheel-rail contact forces is fundamental for the development of reliable computational tools. The wheel concave zone might be a source of numerical difficulties when searching the contact points, which has been neglected in several works. Here, it is demonstrated that the minimum distance method does not always converge when the wheel surface is not fully convex, being an alternative methodology proposed to perform the contact detection. This approach examines independently the contact between each wheel strip and the rail, where the maximum virtual penetration is determined and associated with the location of the contact point. Then, an Hertzian-based force model is considered for both normal and tangential forces. The results obtained from dynamic simulations show that the minimum distance method and the proposed methodology provide a similar response for simplified wheel profiles. However, the new approach described here is reliable in the identification of the contact point when realistic wheel profiles are considered, which is not the case with the minimum distance method.