Inverse identification of wheel–rail contact forces based on observation of wheel disc strains: an evaluation of three numerical algorithms

A new methodology for the estimation of wheel–rail contact forces at a high-frequency range

“…In the finite element modeling of the rotating load around the wheel edge, simulation of continuous motion of the rotating load is a challenge. To solve this problem, one can use the methodology proposed by Ronasi and Nielsen 11 and simulate the history of load in adjacent elements so that the resultant load should be continuous while the force is switching. Considering three adjacent elements which sense the rotating load, as illustrated in Figure 2(I), first, the load is completely applied on the element A at the instant t=t0; therefore, the continuous model, Figure 2(II), is equivalent with the discrete model (Figure 2(III)).…”

“…a stationary wheel subjected to a rotating force was also applied by Ronasi et al. 11–14 in the framework of the FEM for the numerical estimation of the normal contact force. In these studies, for the disk and wheel, equation of motion includes the mass matrix, damping matrix, stiffness matrix as well as the gyroscopic matrix, centrifugal stiffness matrix, and centrifugal force.…”

“…It was found that the proposed approach can measure the vertical contact force with a satisfactory accuracy. Ronasi and Nielsen 11 applied three numerical algorithms for the identification of wheel-rail contact force, including the static calibration, Kalman filter, and inverse identification. They concluded that the static calibration method is not appropriate to identify the wheel-rail contact forces in a condition that the wheel is excited by the frequency near its natural frequencies.…”

“…Although instrumented wheelsets have been developed for more than three decades, very few studies have been carried out on the estimation of the highfrequency force (more than 90 Hz) except Ronasi et al [11][12][13][14] Most of the studies have been applied for the frequency range 0-90 Hz, which are able to measure the quasi-static forces. The Ronasi et al method was employed for the vertical force with a frequency range of 100-2000 Hz.…”