Application of active steering systems for the reduction of rolling contact fatigue on rails

This article studies the benefits of implementing active steering systems in railway vehicles for the mitigation of rolling contact fatigue (RCF) on rails. Two well-known active steering strategies have been implemented in a simulation model of an existing conventional vehicle, one of them performing with a rather low bandwidth and the other showing a faster response. Simulations with these models on carefully selected scenarios where RCF is predicted with a conventional vehicle are carried out in order to evaluate the potential benefits of using active steering systems for the mitigation of RCF, showing that in some situations, low-bandwidth active steering systems are effective in reducing the propensity to generate RCF, whereas for other running conditions, higher bandwidths are required.