Curving analysis of modified designs of passenger railway vehicle trucks

Abstract

In this paper, modified truck designs were studied with an objective to achieving better compatibility between high speed stability and curving behaviour compared to the conventional truck. The analysis has shown that USD truck can be designed to achieve better over all performance compared to other truck designs. The results of steady state curving program were validated using the commercial software package NUCARS. The comparison of steady state curving behaviour of different truck designs using NUCARS also showed that USD truck has the potential to achieve superior performance compared to other truck designs. The research reported in this paper has dealt with steady state curving behaviour. To look into the safety implications of the new designs, transient behaviour in curves must be studied. The response of the railway cars in entry and exit spirals should be evaluated. The effects of track irregularities on the response of these modified designs need to be analyzed.