Characterization of the influence of rail wear on train dynamics

Abstract

The study presented here aims at characterizing the influence of the rail wear on the train dynamic response. Rail profiles have been measured on a real track and post-processed in order to be used in a mutlibody simulation of the train's response. Wear modes have been extracted from the measures with a Principal Orthogonal Decomposition (POD). The profiles have been projected on these modes, giving a good characterization of the profiles' geometry. In a second step, the train's dynamic response on the measured track is simulated with a multibody software. The result shows that wear reduces the train's stability.