Creating a strain-gauge wheel set model using software package «Universal mechanism»

Abstract

Achieving a continuous process of wheel-rail interaction could solve most of the problems in the field of railway traffic safety. Scientists have been studying the issue of determining forces in the wheel-rail contact since the middle of the last century, and it is still relevant. Modern technologies have stepped far ahead, which allows to create measuring instruments of a better quality, including a strain-gauge wheel set. At the same time, insufficient attention has been paid to the simulation of strain-gauge wheel sets, although this is a very important task allowing to answer many questions and solve some problems of creating such a measuring tool at the design stage. The article describes the process of creating a strain-gauge wheel set model using software package «Universal Mechanism» based on the existing patent design. Such stages of the model creation are considered as preparation of a finite-element elastic wheel set, determination of locations of strain gauges. The wheel stress-strain state during its rotation is analyzed and the optimal number of strain gauges is determined to further obtain continuous random processes of the wheel-rail interaction. The resulting model has shown good convergence of results in determining vertical and lateral forces in the wheel-rail contact. At the same time, there are many aspects to be studied that would help to improve the strain-gauge wheel set model.