Effect of Crosswind on Derailment of Railway Vehicles Running on Curved Track at Low Speed

Abstract

Owing to the lightening of railway vehicles and increased operation speeds, the reduction of running safety in the presence of crosswind is becoming an important problem. In particular, the running safety tends to decrease when vehicles run on curved track. When a crosswind acts on a vehicle negotiating a curve from the outer side, flange climbing can occur. In this study, a full-vehicle model was constructed using the multi-body simulation software SIMPACK, and a simulation of a bogie vehicle with two-axle trucks negotiating a curve was carried out to examine the running safety under the condition where a crosswind acts on the vehicle from the outer side of the curve. As a result, it was verified that the derailment coefficient of the first wheelset becomes large in the exit transition curve and the coefficient of the third wheelset does in the entrance transition curve, and this trend becomes pronounced at low operation speeds in the presence of a stronger crosswind. It was also shown that the critical derailment coefficients obtained by modified Nadal's formula considering the effect of attack angle become close to the actual derailment coefficients at the timing that flange climbing occurs.

Prediction of Theoretical Derailments Caused by Cross-Winds with Frequency

“…Takahiro Hosoi [15] used MBD (multibody dynamics) simulation to obtain the derailment coefficient for all wheels when cross-wind was applied in a curved track. In addition, the derailment coefficients according to vehicle speeds and wind speeds were analyzed.…”

“…A cross-wind with exciting frequency can act on vehicles due to railside structures that are repeatedly placed, as in Figure 3, when running on a bridge. However, the theoretical derailment equations due to cross-wind in the previous studies could only statically evaluate the derailment risk under a constant wind speed condition [10,19], and the fluctuant wind or gust conditions have been evaluated using a multibody dynamics simulation [15,16,20]. In this paper, a theoretical formula on the risk of derailment was derived considering cross-winds with varying wind forces generated by structures displaced at regular intervals on the trackside.…”

Bayesian Network-based probability analysis of train derailments caused by various extreme weather patterns on railway turnouts

“…High winds are frequently seen as a cause of derailment on main lines, blowing rolling stock off tracks. The winds might be more ef-fective in moving rolling stock on railway turnouts as the running safety regarding crosswind stability of the vehicles tends to decrease on curved and moving track systems (Hosoi and Tanifuji, 2012).…”

Effect of wind gusts on the dynamics of railway vehicles running on a curved track

“…The cause of the accident was presumed to be strong winds. 9 To prevent such accidents, a regulation in the restriction of running speed of railway vehicles was established according to the speed of strong crosswinds. However, the ride comfort is impaired and the running stability of vehicles is deteriorated, sometimes leading to derailment because the vehicle is made to run on the curved line at a low speed owing to the running speed restriction under strong crosswinds.…”

“…Using the 3 km track irregularity data measured from Gyeongbu High-Speed Railway, they studied the safety of the vehicle traveling on a curve with a radius of curvature of 7000 m with crosswind speeds at 15, 30, and 45 m/s. With the help of the multibody dynamics program, SIMPACK, Hosoi and Tanifuji 9 calculated the derailment coefficient of each wheel when the car was traveling on a curve in a crosswind. This simulation focused on the safety, including vertical wheel load reduction and derailment coefficient, of a vehicle with a 65 mm cant traveling on a sharp curve with a curvature radius of 160 m during a 90° crosswind, but it did not consider the track irregularity and assumed constant wind speed at the curve.…”