Modelling rail vehicle dynamics using a novel 2D wheel-rail contact model

This paper describes efficient modeling and simulation method which can be employed for fast and real time simulations of hybrid intelligent systems from railway vehicles using a novel 2D wheel-rail contact model. It presents the development of a novel 2D wheel-railcontact model where the variables related to the geometry part are determined by solving a reduced number of mathematical equations and the wheel-rail normal contact forces are calculated without approximating the contact angle. The results are stored in a lookup table accessed during the dynamic analysis of wheel-sets, bogies, or trains so the computational time is reduced. The process of solving the ordinary differential equations representing the bogie dynamic behaviour becomes faster by using the lookup table. The proposed 2D wheel-rail contact model could be used for fast and real-time simulations of complex and nonlinear wheel-rail contact mechanics and advanced condition monitoring systems for railway vehicles.