1.

9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

1. Constraint forces between W/R
1.1.Tow planes in W/R contact
Fig. 2.23Tow planes in W/R
Vehicle dynamic performance is contact
influenced strongly by interacting W/R
forces
There are two planes when contact
forces are considered
In normal plane (Plane 1)
Acts only constraint forces(or normal,
geometry forces):
Q: W/R vertical force
N: Normal force
Fy: lateral force
In Tangent plane (Plane2)
Acts only tangent forces(or creep forces)
Tx,Ty: friction forces in x.y direction, depends on
sx,sy: longitudinal and lateral creepage
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
2) W/R Constraint forces Fig. 2.24 W/R constraint forces
Wight of wheel causes a
reacting normal force which is
perpendicular to contact plane
While tread is usually with a
slop, so normal force has a
lateral component, which push
the wheel back to the center of
track.
So, N and Fy depend on inclination
angle of transient contact point (a
small plane)
Transient contact position depends
on changing of w/r relative
position, which takes a non linear
relationship in flange area the
inclination is very steep.
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

3) Calculation of constraint force and contact patch

 Contact patch is small compared with the dimensions of the wheelset.
 Assuming that the curvatures of W/R are constant in the
vicinity of the contact point
 Assuming material properties of W/R are the same, in this case
tangential tractions do not affect the normal pressures.
 Assuming W/R are smooth
 Dimension of contact area:
1) Take a shape of elliptical
2) Normal pressure distribution is semi-ellipsoidal
3) Shape and orientation of ellipse depends only on:
B1,B2, and A1 [Rw,Rr,r]
4) Patch area depends on: ,G, and ν
Fig. 2.25 W/R contact patch
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

4. Normal stress contact

 Hertz contact theory: elliptical contact patch
 The bodies surface shapes are
represented by two second order
polynomials:

The A1,2 and B1,2 coefficients are assumed

constant in the neighborhood of the
contact point O
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
4. Normal stress contact
 In the railway case, the curvature A2 is generally neglected as the rail is straight:
the radius is infinite. B1 and B2 are deduced from the transverse profiles, A1 from rn,
the normal radius of the wheel, itself deduced from r o, the rolling radius of the
wheel

 The vertical relative distance d(x,y) between the two bodies can be written
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

4. Normal stress contact

 Hertz contact theory: elliptical contact patch

Hertz contact coefficient

 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

5. Shear stress

Fig. 2.26 Shear stress

 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
6.Friction forces
1) Creep
• The assumption of rigid wheel rail is not what happens in real wheel rail contact
mechanism.
• The rail elastic deformation takes places in the contact patch of the wheel and
rail
• The contact patch is elliptical and normal pressure distribution is semi-elliptical
• If a longitudinal force is applied to the wheel, so that it is braked, a deviation
from the pure rolling motion occurs.
– The deviation in relative velocity divided by the forward speed of the wheel is
referred to as the longitudinal creepage
– Lateral creepage is defined as the (incremental) relative lateral velocity divided by
the forward speed
– relative angular motion between wheel and rail about the normal to the contact patch
is referred to as spin
• Both longitudinal and lateral creepage generate forces which are directly
proportional to the corresponding creepage.
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
6.Friction forces
1) Creep

This Figure indicated that

The contact patch between
wheel and rail (a) elevation
showing locked region of
adhesion at leading edge
and region of slip at trailing
edge (b) normal pressure
and tangential traction
applied by wheel to rail (c)
contact patch in plan view.

Fig. 2.27 Creep

 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
6.Friction forces Oc xc
1) Creepages
yc
longitudin al _ creepage： 1  Vxw  Vxr / V
Define of creepage (macro, no
elastical deformation, at centre)
42

Wheel speed : forward vel. of frame

lateral _ creepage： 2  V yw  V yr / V 43

    rz / V
Oxyz and vibration vel. of wst w.r.t. Xw
Oxyz at contact point
spin _ creepage：3 z 44
Y
Rail speed : circumference speed of
instant rolling round at contact point

Reference speed V: there are different

way to define it, on of them is the mean O
velocity of W/R along x, another is just O*
O 
the forward velocity of frame Oxyz,  y
G
etc.  x
y*
x*
z
Fig. 2.28 Creepages (a)
(a) Pure contact  y (b)
y*
(b) curve z*
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
6.Friction forces
1.1) Longitudinal Creepages
Where and are rigid body velocity of the wheel in longitudinal and lateral
direction respectively and and are rigid body velocity of the contact points on
rail respectively and and are angular velocities of the wheel and rail about axis.

Fig. 2.29 Longitudinal Creepages

 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
6.Friction forces
1.2.lateral Creepages
 Lateral creepage may caused by
wheelset angle
 Lateral creepage may also caused by
lateral w/r relative movement
 Lateral creepage may
caused by spin.

Fig. 2.30 Lateral Creepages

 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
6.Friction forces
1.3.Saturation feature of friction force
Friction force is limited by mN, in case of
maximum, saturation occurs no matter in
which direction
So, longitudinal creep force will be
influenced by lateral creep force, and vice
versa.
This is especially important for a
locomotive make its effort in a curve,
because of big attack angle and thus
induced high lateral creep force, the Fig. 2.31 Saturation
locomotive traction effort will be reduced a
lot.
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
7.Creep forces
7.1 Creep forces for small creepage
For small values of the Creepages and spin, there is adhesion over the complete
contact area and there is a linear relationship between the creep forces and the
Creepages. This is of the form
45

46

47

is the longitudinal creep force, is the lateral creep force, and is the creep
moment, (which can be ordinarily neglected).
The coefficientsare given by (see Kalker (1979)):
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

7.Creep forces
7.1 Creep forces for small creepage
7.1.a Determination of Creepages using wheel rail geometry
• The Creepages can be determined using wheel rail geometry illustrated in
Figures 2.32 and 2.33

Fig. 2.32 Velocity components of Fig. 2.33 Velocity components

wheelset at contact point on right in curve.
hand wheel.
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

7.Creep forces
7.1 Creep forces for small creepage
7.1.a Determination of Creepages using wheel rail geometry
• The velocities can be expressed as (refer to Fig 2.32 and 2.34):
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

7.Creep forces
7.1 Creep forces for small creepage
7.1.a Determination of Creepages using wheel rail geometry

(48)

(49)

(50)

(51)

(52)

(53)

where , for small lateral displacements or in

Other words is the lateral velocity in the original plane of wheel rail contact
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
7.Creep forces
7.1 Creep forces for small creepage
7.1.b Determination of contact forces from Creepages in relation with wheel rail
geometry
• The forces and , , on the wheels due to Creepages can be established by
substituting relations (48)-(53) into relations (45)-(47)
• These forces can be projected to the wheelset axes (see Figure 2.34) as:
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
7.Creep forces
7.1 Creep forces for small creepage
7.1.b Determination of contact forces from Creepages in relation with wheel rail
geometry

Fig. 2.34 Determination of contact forces .

 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
7.Creep forces
7.1 Creep forces for small creepage
7.1.b Determination of contact forces from Creepages in relation with wheel rail
geometry
• The resultant creep forces acting on wheelset in wheel set axes are given
by:
(45)

(46 )

7)

(48)

(4 9)
(49)
(50)
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
7.Creep forces
7.2 Creep forces for large creepage

• For large Creepages such as the case of wheel flange in contact with the
rail, the creep forces are approximated using Johnson and Vermeulen as:
• for
for ,
and for ,
where
(51)

(49)
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

8. Gravitation stiffness (ref. (Iwnicki,1993)

 Gravitational stiffness is responsible for centering the rail vehicle towards
its center.
 As the rail vehicle moves the normal force between the rail and wheel
changes.
 A component is directed towards lateral direction.

(49)
Fig. 2.35 Gravitation stiffness
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

8. Gravitation stiffness (ref. (Iwnicki,1993)

• Referring to Figure 2.16, the normal forces can be decomposed into:
– Lateral forces
, and (52) a,b, c
.
– Vertical forces
, and (53) a ,b
.
– The total lateral force
(54)
From Eq. (53) we have

(49)
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

8. Gravitation stiffness (ref. (Iwnicki,1993)

• Therefore the total lateral forces can be written:
(55)
On the other hand this equation can be simplified considering small
conicity angles ( as

Where W is the total vertical load acting on the wheelset.

On the other hand

Therefore
(56)

(49)
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system
9. Derivation of the equation of the wheelset lateral motion
 Assumptions:
o The stiffness of lateral and yaw springs are neglected.
o For small displacements and conicity.
The second assumption results in the following relations

(57) a,b,c

The creepages are therefore simplified to

(58)

(59)
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

9. Derivation of the equation of the wheelset lateral motion

(60)

(61)

• The relations stated above can be further substituted

(62) in creep
forces
(63)
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

9. Derivation of the equation of the wheelset lateral motion

• For small creepages with simplified expressions, the overall lateral creep force is
obtained as:

For large curves, can be neglected against

(64)
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

9. Derivation of the equation of the wheelset lateral motion

• Such that :

(65)
Equate lateral forces acting on the wheel ( Eq. (56) and Eq.
(63) ) to the lateral inertia:

(66)
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

9. Derivation of the equation of the wheelset lateral motion

• The overall creep yaw torque on the wheel set is given by:

(67)

(68)
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

9. Derivation of the equation of the wheelset lateral motion

• For very large track curves and tangent tracks
, such that

Equating all Yaw torques acting on the wheel set to the inertial yaw torque(69)
we
get

Note that for a tangent track and (70)

Therefore
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

9. Derivation of the equation of the wheelset lateral motion

(71)
The equations Eq.(66) and Eq. (71) are derived using Heuristic approach and are
used to simulate the rail vehicle on tangent track or a track with large curves.
These equations can be transformed into state space representation so that the
lateral and yaw displacements and velocities (can be solved.
For small curves, the equations of motion must take into account the cant angle,
and the curve radius. The creepages expressions must be derived considering
that the wheel flange will quickly touch the rail and the resulting creepages will
be large. Therefore expressions of Johnson and Vermeulen (Eq. (51)) for
creepage approximations will be used. In these cases the resulting equations of
motion are nonlinear.
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

9. Derivation of the equation of the wheelset lateral motion

 The simplified equations of motions that takes into account effects of different
parameters such as changes of cant and curve radius, wheel profile geometry,
and lateral and yaw suspension stiffness can be obtained using similar analysis
, and were provided by Wickens (2003)

where
(71)

(72)
 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

9. Derivation of the equation of the wheelset lateral motion

whereand are the lateral and yaw suspension stiffness

 1.9 Forces acting on a rail vehicle system

9. Vertical Forces
 The vertical forces that develop between the wheel and rail are made up
of a force that supports the static load of the vehicle and a dynamically
varying force in response to the vehicle motion along track with
irregularities. These forces are:
 : the static load on the wheel
 : the high frequency dynamic force where the wheel vibrates on the
contact stiffness
 : the lower frequency dynamic force caused by the wheel and rail
vibrating on the substructure stiffness (pad, sleeper, ballast)

Fig. 2. 36 Vertical forces after a

dipped rail joint.
Thank you!

(49)