Parameter Influences on Rail Corrugation of Metro Tangential Track

Abstract

Rail corrugation can reduce riding comfort by vibration and noise, and even cause running accident. In this paper, the vehicle–track coupled dynamic model was developed for a metro’s tangential track considering the wear in rail materials. The influences of different track structure parameters and vehicle speed on the generation and development of rail corrugation of the tangential track were analyzed using the developed model by the control variable method. The results show that for different parameters, the friction power in wheel–rail contact patch fluctuates with time, but the overall fluctuation range is relatively uniform. Meantime, an analysis of one-third octave curves of the friction power reveals that the characteristic frequencies of friction power are mainly concentrated in the middle and low frequency bands. At the dominant characteristic frequency, the longitudinal stiffness and damping of fasteners, and lateral and vertical damping of fasteners have less influence on rail corrugation, while the lateral and vertical stiffnesses of fasteners, spacing of fasteners, wheel–rail friction coefficient and vehicle speed have greater effect on rail corrugation. The changes in vertical stiffness and spacing of fasteners will cause the characteristic frequency of friction power to be offset, resulting in a shift from 80[Formula: see text]Hz to 100[Formula: see text]Hz, which will further lead to rail corrugation of the corresponding wavelength. Thus, it can be concluded that the vertical stiffness and spacing of fasteners have an important impact on the generation and development of rail corrugation at the specific frequency. Besides, the variations of the other variables bring little change to the characteristic frequencies of friction power as well as on rail corrugation. The mechanism of parameters unveiled here provides some guides for the parameter optimization problem on restraining the generation or development of rail corrugation on the tangential track.

Formation Mechanism of Metro Rail Corrugation Based on Wheel–Rail Stick–Slip Behaviors

“…The under-rail structure composition and line layout of the track were set according to the target line so as to make the simulation results closer to reality. The general structural parameters of the vehicle model and track model are referred to the literature [34,35].…”

Sensitivity Analysis for Influence Parameters of Rail Corrugation Characteristics in Metro Straight Section

“…The results demonstrated that in the studied track system, the stiffness of the rail pad was the key factor affecting wheel-rail contact force. The literature [14] analyzed the influence of different track structure parameters and vehicle operation speed on the generation and development of rail corrugation on the straight track by using the control variable method. Based on the wheel-rail coupling effect, a practical model for predicting the growth of rail corrugation was proposed in the literature [15], the main cause of rail corrugation was studied, and the parameter analysis was carried out.…”