Effects of conformal wheel/rail contact modelling on the dynamic responses of a wheelset

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Binbin Liu - , Chair of Rail Vehicles, Polytechnic University of Milan (Author)
  • Jalil Rismantab-Sany - , Railway Dynamics, LLC (Author)
  • Edwin Vollebregt - , Vtech CMCC (Author)

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of conformal wheel/rail contact modelling on the dynamic responses of a wheelset through a series of specially designed benchmark exercises. Five contact models were used: DynaRail, basic and advanced approaches in Simpack, and two approaches in CONTACT, implemented online in multibody simulation. Despite the difference in the representation of wheel/rail contact, the models produced comparable results regarding the overall system behaviour under low conformal contact conditions. Significant variations were observed in contact-related output channels. These findings suggest that while overall forces for conformal contacts can be approximated reasonably well using a proper planar contact model, more substantial differences are obtained in local outcomes. These discrepancies, particularly in the stress distribution, have critical implications for the simulation of wear and damage phenomena.

Details

Original languageEnglish
JournalVehicle System Dynamics
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 21 May 2025
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0003-2482-8729/work/199964180

Keywords

Keywords

  • benchmark, Conformal contact, contact reference point, curved contact patch, multi-Hertzian contacts, wheelset dynamics