Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle to the contact characteristic on curve track.

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing - Volume 6...

1 of 2

http://inderscience.metapress.com/content/h16422227224/

Help Sitemap

Publishers of distinguished academic, scientific and professional journals

Home

For Authors

Print Orders

News

Back To:

Institutional Login

Previous Saved Item Next Saved Item

Journal Issue

more

Find

Volume 6, Number 3-4/2011

Logged in as:

Journal

I Made Parwata
(996-13-818)
Log Out

Publisher

ISSN
Subject

Journals
Subject Group

Inderscience Home
Online Journals Home

Online Date

Search

International Journal of
Vehicle Systems
Modelling and Testing
Inderscience Publishers

Prices/Add to Shopping
Cart

Add to saved items
Recommend this issue

1745-6436 (Print)
1745-6444 (Online)
Automotive and
Transportation Systems
and Simulation and
Modelling
Science, Engineering and
Technology
Wednesday, December
14, 2011

...

Go

Within all content
Within this journal

Within this issue
Author
Waleed F. Faris (4)
Raed Kafafy (2)
Sergio Hoyas (2)
Dung Khuong-Anh (2)
Juan Manuel Momp?-Laborda (2)
Moumen Idres (2)

Browse

My Menu
Marked Items
Alerts
Order History

Saved Items

Editorial View

Expanded List View Condensed List View

10 Articles

Evaluation of the Eulerian-Lagrangian spray atomisation (ELSA) in spray
simulations
PDF (463.5 KB)

Parwata (1)

Support

10.1504/IJVSMT.2011.044224

Authors

Sergio Hoyas, J.M. Pastor, Dung Khuong-Anh, Juan Manuel
Momp?-Laborda and Frederic Ravet

Possible solution to smoothen the nature of the torque curve of the

CAMPRO engine
PDF (527.2 KB)

Technical Support
FAQ

Keep up-to-date
Our Blog

HTML

DOI

All (1)

10.1504/IJVSMT.2011.044225

Authors

A.K.M. Mohiuddin, Ataur Rahman, A. Arfah and M.A. Farraen

Analysis and simulation of semi-active suspension control policies for
two-axle off-road vehicle using full model
DOI

10.1504/IJVSMT.2011.044226

Visit us on Facebook

Authors

Zohir BenLahcene, Waleed F. Faris and Sany Izan Ihsan

RSS Feeds
New issue alerts

Fuzzy semi-active damping force estimator (fSADE) and skyhook
semi-active suspension systems
PDF (1.8 MB)

10.1504/IJVSMT.2011.044227

Authors

Saiful Anuar Abu Bakar, Hishamuddin Jamaluddin, Roslan
Abd. Rahman, Pakharuddin Mohd. Samin, Ryosuke Masuda,
Hiromu Hashimoto and Takeshi Inaba

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle to the contact
characteristic on curve track
10.1504/IJVSMT.2011.044228

Authors

I. Made Parwata, Bagus Budiwantoro, Satryo S.
Brodjonegoro and I.G.N. Wiratmaja Puja

A large-eddy simulation of diesel-like gas jets

268-282

HTML

DOI

10.1504/IJVSMT.2011.044229

Authors

Sergio Hoyas, Antonio Gil, Juan Manuel Momp?-Laborda
and Dung Khuong-Anh

Assessment of free-rotating air swirling device to reduce SI engine
emissions and improve fuel economy
PDF (695.5 KB)

250-267

HTML

DOI

PDF (1.6 MB)

232-249

HTML

DOI

PDF (1.3 MB)

219-231

HTML

Follow us on Twitter
Our Newsletter
(Sign Up)

202-218

HTML

DOI

PDF (314.0 KB)

187-201

283-306

HTML

9/20/2013 9:15 PM

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing - Volume 6...

2 of 2

DOI

10.1504/IJVSMT.2011.044230

Authors

Raed Kafafy and Sharzali Che Mat

http://inderscience.metapress.com/content/h16422227224/

The structural integrity assessment of a partially filled tank pertaining to
liquid sloshing upon sudden brake applications
PDF (1.4 MB)

307-317

HTML

DOI

10.1504/IJVSMT.2011.044231

Authors

Hasan M. Abid, Qasim H. Shah and Waleed F. Faris

Vehicle fuel consumption and emission modelling: an in-depth literature
review
PDF (513.2 KB)

HTML

DOI

10.1504/IJVSMT.2011.044232

Authors

Waleed F. Faris, Hesham A. Rakha, Raed Ismail Kafafy,
Moumen Idres and Salah Elmoselhy

Air supply system transient model for proton-exchange membrane fuel cell
PDF (230.4 KB)

318-395

396-407

HTML

DOI

10.1504/IJVSMT.2011.044233

Authors

Moumen Idres, Raed Kafafy and Waleed F. Faris

10 Articles
Contact us | About Inderscience | OAI Repository | Privacy & Cookies Statement | Terms & Conditions
Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. All rights reserved.
Powered by Metapress.
Metapress Privacy Policy
Remote Address: 36.83.175.159 • Server: MPSHQWBRDR02P
HTTP User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:24.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/24.0

9/20/2013 9:15 PM

250

Int. J. Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, Vol. 6, Nos. 3/4, 2011

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle
to the contact characteristic on curve track
I. Made Parwata*
Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,
Institut Teknologi Bandung,
Jalan Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
and
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Udayana,
Kampus Bukit Jimbaran, Bali – 80364, Indonesia
E-mail: md_parwata@yahoo.co.uk
*Corresponding author

Bagus Budiwantoro,
Satryo S. Brodjonegoro and
I.G.N. Wiratmaja Puja
Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,
Institut Teknologi Bandung,
Jalan Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
E-mail: budiwan@edc.itb.ac.id
E-mail: satrio1@indo.net.id
E-mail: iwpuja00@edc.itb.ac.id
Abstract: The main problem in railway field is high wear rate due to
increasing of the capacity needed. It will cause the reliability and availability of
facilities and infrastructure to decrease, even increasing the derailment accident
and operational cost. This wear is due to the high contact load that occurs on
the interface of contact between wheel and rail. The highest wear rate occurred
commonly at the curve track. This research examined the effect of curving
speed and mass of vehicle to the normal forces, contact area and contact
pressure on the contact path between wheel and rail. The effect would be
investigated when the vehicle passed on the curve track. By using universal
mechanism software, the simulations are presented. It is found that the wheel
on the leading wheelset of front left bogie of vehicle receive the highest load.
On the tread contact, increasing vehicle mass had more influence than
increasing curving speed. Meanwhile, on the flange increasing curving speed
gives greater influence than increasing vehicle mass.
Keywords: railway vehicle; contact force; contact area; contact pressure;
wheel rail contact; wear.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Parwata, I.M.,
Budiwantoro, B., Brodjonegoro, S.S. and Puja, I.G.N.W. (2011) ‘Effect of
curving speed and mass of railway vehicle to the contact characteristic on
curve track’, Int. J. Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, Vol. 6, Nos. 3/4,
pp.250–267.
Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle

251

Biographical notes: I. Made Parwata is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of
Mechanical and Aerospace, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Indonesia. His
research interest is in field of tribology with specific topic in contact between
wheel and rail and efforts to reduce of wear rate.
Bagus Budiwantoro is currently an Associate Professor at the Faculty of
Mechanical and Aerospace, ITB. He received his Bachelor’s degree in
Mechanical Engineering from ITB. Since 1980, he worked as a Lecturer at the
Institut Teknologi Bandung and he had an extensive experience in national and
international consulting projects. He obtained his Master’s and PhD in
Vibration from Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France in 1987 and 1990, respectively.
In 1997, he spent a few months at Chuo University, Tokyo Japan as a
researcher. His research lays in the fields of sport goods, mechanical
design, strutural dyanamic, dredging, stress analysis, hyper elastic material, and
mechanical rubber component.
Satryo S. Brodjonegoro is a Professor at the Faculty of Mechanical and
Aerospace, ITB. He holds a PhD in Tribology from the University of
California, USA. His research interests are in the fields of mechanical design,
finite element analysis, concurrent design, railway technology, structural
analysis and integrity, fracture mechanics, failure analysis, offshore platform
design, material science, stress analysis, composite materials, water jet cutting,
higher education policy and development, and engineering education
development.
I.G.N. Wiratmaja Puja is a Professor at the Faculty of Mechanical and
Aerospace, ITB. He specialised in contact mechanic. His current research
interests include integrity mechanical, piping and pipeline systems, oil and gas
surface facilities, risk assessment and RBI, fitness for services, heavy
machinery, railway vehicles mechanical design, solid mechanics, stress
analysis, smart structures and advanced materials, contact mechanic, impact,
and crashworthiness.

1

Introduction

Curving speed and load play an important role in the mechanism of the damage on wheel
and rail of railway vehicle. Some of damages are shown in Figure 1. In the world’s
railway, the highest wear occurs at the curve track, rail joint and crossing (Clayton,
1995). Archard states the relationship between wear volume with sliding distance and
load through the specific wear rate (Beek, 2006). On the relationship was stated that the
volume of wear is proportional to the added load (Beagley, 1976; Bolton and Clayton,
1984) through the experiment by using two rollers showed that the greater the contact
pressure, the greater the wear rate. At the curve track the normal load increased 37% for
the leading wheelset and 51% for the trailing wheelset. This is due to the increasing of
centrifugal force due to the increasing of curving speed in lateral direction (Jin et al.,
2009). They modelled the railway vehicle by half the vehicle, two wheelsets and four
wheels. Therefore, in this paper describes the effect of mass of vehicle and curving speed
on the curve track with a single vehicle model, consisting of four wheelsets and eight
wheels. By knowing this effect, the main factor can be found and the effort to overcome
the problem can be improved.

252
Figure 1

I.M. Parwata et al.
Damages of wheel and rail, (a) scratching wheel (b) porous wheel (c) wear rail
(d) squashing rail (see online version for colours)

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Several authors have examined the causes of this damage. It was started by the research
on contact force between wheel-rail and their effect. Lenkiewicz analysed the effect of
engine vibration and external vibration to the friction. It was found that low sliding
velocity may decrease friction up to 15% of its original value. Influences of vibrations
are also able to reduce stick slip phenomenon (Lenkiewicz, 1969). Meanwhile, Bhaskar
et al. (1997b) obtained a dynamic model that was used to observe the effect of the
adjustment of the transverse wheel profile on the decline short pitch rail corrugation.
Furthermore, this dynamic model was used to obtain displacement rails and forces,
creepages and contact forces, friction energy dissipation. This observation connects
between wheel and rail profile with noise, vibration and corrugation (Bhaskar et al.,
1997a). Chiverst and Radcliffe (1987) presented a model to estimate the variation of
lateral force between wheel and rail as a function of the misalignment angle and
coefficient of friction. Matsumoto et al. (1996) studied wheel rail creep force
characteristics and mechanisms of corrugation by using full scale bogie on a test stand.
Creep force characteristics are measured according to Kalker linear theory. Also
discussed the relations creep characteristics and position of the contact (Matsumoto et al.,
1996). Bucher et al. (2002) studied the normal and tangential contact force on rough
surfaces. In this study, different characteristics on the relationship between the creep
force curve and creep with creep obtained analytically by Carter. Based on

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle

253

experimentally obtained two-dimensional model of the contact between wheel and rail,
initial slope of creep force vs. creep curve depends on the characteristics of effective
roughness (Bucher et al., 2002).
Developments of test equipment to wheel-rail and computer simulation are also
performed. Matsumoto developing roller stand by using the scale 1/5 of the truck.
This project is known as the ‘development of intelligent active wheel’. In this study
discussed the characteristics of creep force of the roller rail and wheel on the various
conditions of the contact (Matsumoto et al., 2002). Then, Iwnicki (2003) presented
the forces arising on the wheel and rail contact on railway vehicles. These forces affect
the behaviour of vehicles on the straight and curve track. The method is a common
method to calculate these forces. ADAM/Rail Software was used (Iwnicki, 2003).
Likewise, Polach (2003) developed a model to simulate the contact of rail wheels on wet
or dry conditions. Developing method in this paper was possible to simulate the creep
force accordance with measurements with variety of conditions, wet, dry, with
pollutants, etc. (Polach, 2003). Meanwhile, the effect of different types of railway vehicle
wheels on wheel rail contact force was studied by Johanson and Nielsen (2003). Vertical
contact force was measured using a strain gauge. Strain gauge and accelerometer were
placed on the rail and sleeper to measure the track response (Johanson and Nielsen,
2003). Furthermore, Baek et al. (2007) observed the effect of water lubrication of
transient traction characteristics of the two roller contacts. Traction coefficient was
measured in wet conditions, using a rolling sliding friction test machine with twin disc
type, which can simulate the contact condition of the rail wheel low slip ratio and low
rolling speed (Baek et al., 2007). Ghazavi and Taki (2008) modelled three-piece bogie
using MATLAB and compared the L/V force with simulations using the software
ADAMS/Rail.
Both models show similar results namely that the possibility of derailment occurred
when the train enters the curve track and at the exit/end of the curve (Ghazavi and Taki,
2008). Then, the maximum stress and tangential force on the surface of the ellipse the
contact area is influenced by the wheel rail contact dynamic load and creepages
conducted by Xia et al. (2008). New method to measure the contact force between wheel
and rail was developed by Matsumoto et al. The results showed that the new method is
quite practical for monitoring contact force in the commercial line (Matsumotoa et al.,
2008).
Methods to measure the contact area and contact pressure are also developed. Pau
et al. (2000) used ultrasonic measurements and the help of Scion image software to
measure the contact area. The results were in line with calculations based on Hertz
theory (Pau et al., 2000). Then, Pau also can estimate the real contact area by using
ultrasonic waves. He varied load and surface roughness. It was found that the real contact
area (RCA) increases almost linearly with increasing load and the increasing of one
level of combination of wheel and rail roughness caused sevenfold reduction of RCA
in a given load (Pau, 2003). Furthermore, Pau et al. (2002) also observed the contact
pressure distribution on the wheels and rails and area contacts. By varying the load,
he observed changes in the contact area and then compared with theoretical
calculations Hertz. Finite element analysis was also performed (Pau et al., 2002).
Wiest et al. (2008) compared four methods of calculation to obtain the value of
contact pressure, contact area and deformation (mutual approach), namely the theory of
Hertz, CONTACT Program, FEM for the elastic, and FEM for elastic-plastic. The
analysis was performed in case of contact with the wheel crossing. The results were very

254

I.M. Parwata et al.

accurate in the contact area, contact pressure and deformation (Wiest et al., 2008).
Soemantri et al. (2010) made formula to calculate contact dimension between wheel and
rail. A more accurate result was obtained in determining the contact dimensions and
maximum contact pressure. A finite element modelling was also performed to observe
the variations of maximum contact stress in rail with respect to the change rail radius of
curvature (Soemantri et al., 2010). Jin et al. (2009) utilised numerical method to analyse
the effect of curving speed on the wear and contact stress of wheel and rail. The
numerical method was a combination of Kalker theory, non-Hertzian rolling contacts,
material wear model and the vertical and lateral dynamic model railway vehicle. The
conclusion is very useful in the maintenance of the rail (Jin et al., 2009). Then, Gerlici
and Lack (2010) discussed about the method of profile development of railway vehicle
wheels. The method is based on the method of iteration. They developed a new profile
with the given conditions. The results of the new profile were tested based on the
distribution of normal stress and tangential stress which may affect to the fatigue
behaviour of rail and wheel material. The result of the new profile gave better results than
the wheel-rail standard (Gerlici and Lack, 2010).
Efforts to develop an analysis of the contact stress due to impact loads were
performed by Wen et al. (2005). They analysed the contact stress due to impact on rail
joint. Finite element method was used to simulate the contact behaviour of rail wheels on
the rail joint. The material model was modelled by linear kinematic hardening. They also
observed the influence of axle load and train speed on the contact force, stress and
strain on the rail head when passing through the gap between the two railheads.
The results showed axle load greater influence on the above parameters during the
impact at a constant speed than the speed of the train. The research focused on the head
of the rail (Wen et al., 2005). Then, Guaglianoa and Pau (2007) studied the contact
pressure distribution in experiments using high-frequency ultrasonic wave reflections. It
was provided on an internal crack in the wheel, and then it was compared with
the pressure distribution according to Hertz theory. The goal was for the assessment
of the influence of contact condition on the damage caused by an internal crack
propagation (Guaglianoa and Pau, 2007). Parwata et al. (2008a) made simulations on the
contact stress distribution due to rail impact load. They observed the influence of axle
load, train speed, the difference misalignment of rails on rail joint. The simulation was
performed using finite element software. Later in the year 2008 also, Parwata et al.
(2008b) analysed the impact load on the wheel. Using the numerical approach, this
phenomenon was modelled and simulated. They observed the influence of axle load, train
speed, the difference of lateral misalignment of rails to the stress and strain on the wheel.
The result showed the speed of the train provided the greatest influence and was more
sensitive to stress. The axle load provided the greatest impact to the strain on the wheel
(Parwata et al., 2008b).
In this study, universal mechanism software is used to make a dynamic model of
railway vehicle. Thus, to simulate effect of curving speed and vehicle mass to
characteristic contact on the curve track. The parameters are namely normal load, contact
area and contact pressure on interface of wheel and rail contact. There are many factors
that affect to the failure due to this contact. In this research, two factors are estimated as
the main factor specifically the curving speed of vehicles and vehicle mass. It is expected
to support efforts to overcome the damage caused by contacts.

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle

255

1.1 Wheel and rail contact theory
The general formulation was used to produce the contacts force on the contact surface of
wheel and rail as specified in Iwnicki (2006). When two rigid bodies are pressed together
by a normal force, both surfaces undergo elastic deformation so that its contacts area is an
ellipse. The shape and size of the contact area between two elastic bodies in static contact
is given by Hertz (Garg and Dukkipati, 1984). The half-axis ellipse contact area can be
calculated by the following equation:
Semiaxes in the longitudinal direction a:
⎡ 3π N ( K + K )1/3 ⎤
1
2
⎥
a = m⎢
K3
⎢⎣ 4
⎥⎦

(1)

and semiaxes in the lateral direction b:
⎡ 3π N ( K + K )1/3 ⎤
1
2
⎥
b = n⎢
K3
⎢⎣ 4
⎥⎦

(2)

where N is the total normal force, meanwhile K1, K2, and K3 respectively defined as
follows:
K1 =

1 − Vw2
π Ew

(3)

K2 =

1 − VR2
π ER

(4)

K3 =

1⎡ 1
1
1
1 ⎤
+ ⎥
⎢ + +
2 ⎣ R1 R1′ R2 R2′ ⎦

(5)

1.2 Creepage
Creepage phenomenon appears when two rigid bodies are pressed together and rolled to
one another. Generally, the circumference speeds of both objects are not the same or
there is relative velocity (slip). The importance of creepage in the dynamics of railway
vehicle is presented by Carter (1926).
There are three types of creepage, namely: longitudinal creepage ξx, lateral creepage
ξy, and spin creepage ξsp that occurs in two bodies. Spin creepage is also defined as two
bodies rotating about an axis normal to the plane of contact area. Longitudinal creepage
ξx, lateral creepage ξy, and spin creepage ξsp respectively defined as follows (UM User’s
Manual, 2011):
longitudinal creepage ξ x =
lateral creepage ξ y =

vy
v0

vx

v0

(6)
(7)

256

I.M. Parwata et al.
Spin creepage ξ sp =

Ωn

v0

(8)

where vx, vy are the corresponding component of sliding velocity at the contact point on
the wheel relative to the rail, v0 is the longitudinal velocity of the wheelset, Ωn is the
projection of the wheel angular velocity o the normal to the rail at the contact point.

1.3 Creep forces
Creep force longitudinal Fx:
Fx = − f33ξ x

(9)

Creep force lateral Fy:
Fy = − f11ξ y − f12ξ sp

(10)

Spin moment creep MZ:
M z = f12ξ y − f 22ξ sp

(11)

f11, f12, f22, and f33, are the creep coefficients whose values depends on rail wheel
geometry, material properties and the normal force at the centre of the contact surface.
Kalker creep coefficient is defined by the following:
f11 = (ab)GC22

(12)

f12 = (ab)3/2 GC23

(13)

f 22 = (a / b) 2 GC33

(14)

f33 = (ab)GC11

(15)

where
G

combined shear modulus of rigidity wheel and rail materials,

Cij creepage and spin coefficients.
Kalker proposed combination elastic constants, which can be used as an approximation
for the case of two bodies rolling with different elastic constants in determining the
creepage and spin coefficients Cij. Let:
G=

2GwGR
GW + GR

(16)

Combined Poisson’s ratio of wheel and rail materials:
v=

where

G ( Gw vR + GR vw )
2GW GR

(17)

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle

257

Gw shear modulus of rigidity of the wheel material
GR shear modulus of rigidity of the rail material
vw combined Poisson’s ratio of wheel
vW combined Poisson’s ratio of rail.

2

Modelling of railway vehicle and curve track

The simulation will be done by using universal mechanism software. The modelled bogie
is a three piece type commonly used in freight trains. This type of bogie was used at
Babaranjang train. The railways vehicle model consists of one carbody, four wheelsets,
two bolsters, four sideframes, and eight wedges. Each of these components is considered
as a mass associated each other with six degrees of freedom joint. Numbering starts from
the front wheel of the vehicle, wheels 1L, wheel 1R, etc. which means wheel of wheelset
1 on the left and right respectively as in Figure 2, and so on for the next wheels. Bogie
was also given a number B1 for the leading bogie and B2 for the trailing bogie.
The railway vehicle passed the right curve track with a radius of 200 m, the curve
length is 250 m as shown in Figure 2. The vehicle entered the straight track along the 10
m and 30 m along the transition track, super elevation used is 0.010 m. Outer rail is a rail
that serves to resist high centrifugal force during curving. Type profile wheel is used
ORES 1002, whereas the rail profile type used are UIC 54. The speed varied from 32, 42,
52, 62, 72, 82 km/h and the mass of vehicle from 42, 47, 52, 57 and 62 ton.
Figure 2

Vehicle and curve track model

V
1L 
2L 

Y  B1

1R 
2R 
X 

3L 
4L 

3

B2

3R 
4R 

Result and discussion

Simulation results show that at the beginning of the movement occurred curve
negotiation motion. The movement is so great at the beginning of the curve. Next,
entering the curve amplitude of this deviation is smaller. In curve, this hunting movement
looks smaller and tends to be stable until the end of the curve. This phenomenon is
caused by the contact on the flange. Flange contact is started when the vehicle drove for
1.02 seconds. The first time of flange wheels contact with the gauge face of rail is wheel
1L and then wheel 2 L. At the bogie 1, the contact occurs only on the wheel flange in the
left side or on the outer rail or high rail. Meanwhile, on the right side wheels are not in

258

I.M. Parwata et al.

contact with the rail gauge face as shown in Figure 3. In this figure is also shown that the
wheel on the right side (1R and 2R) has a normal force greater than the wheel on the left
side (1L and 2L).
Normal forces of wheels in bogie 1 vs. time for curving speed 42 km/h, mass of vehicle
52 ton (see online version for colours)

Figure 3

140

120
Tread 
Wheel 2R

Normal Contact Force 
(kN)

100

Tread 
Wheel 1R

Flange 
Wheel 1L

80

Tread
Wheel 2L

60

40
Flange
Wheel 1R & 2R

Tread 
Wheel 1L

20

Flange
Wheel 2L

0
0

5

10
Time 
(second)

15

20

Normal forces of wheels in bogie 2 vs. time for curving speed 42 km/h, mass of vehicle
52 ton (see online version for colours)

Figure 4

140
Tread 
wheel 4R

Normal Contact Force 
(kN)

120

Tread 
wheel 4L

100
80

Tread 
wheel 3L Tread 
wheel 3R Flange 
wheel 3R

60
40
20

Flange wheel 
3L & 4L

Flange 
wheel 4R

0
0

2

4

6

8

10
Time (s)

12

14

16

18

20

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle
Figure 5

259

Wear in flange and tread wheel (see online version for colours)

The simulation results of bogie 2 are shown in Figure 4. At the beginning of the curve
shows the movement of vehicle negotiation. This phenomenon is like that on bogie 1.
Exiting the curve, hunting phenomenon of vehicle is smaller.
At the bogie 2, the greatest normal force is on the left side wheels. This force appears
due to contact on the rail head. Furthermore, after 1:40 seconds contact on the flange
started to ensue. So the normal force on the rail head down and gradually increasing the
normal force on the flange. Figure 4 also showed that the left side wheels (3L and 4L) get
the normal force greater than the right side wheels (3R and 4R). Meanwhile, the normal
force contact on the wheel flange occurs only on the right side wheels (3R and 4R). This
occurrence continues until the end of the curve.
In accordance with the Hertz equation (Parwata et al., 2008b; Iwnicki, 2006) that the
normal force along with material properties and the principal of curvature of two bodies
producing contact area at the interface of both bodies. Furthermore, the contact pressure
is the normal force divided by this contact area. Together with the sliding distance,
specific wear and hardness of the material, the normal force plays a very large influence
on wear volume (Bolton and Clayton, 1984). This wear occurs in a contact area according
to Hertz equation. On a curve track the contacts occurred at two points, namely at the
tread and the flange section Thus, possibility of wear occurs at the contact location.
Figure 5 shows the wear that occurs in the tread and wheel flange. Simulation also shows
the location of the same contacts location.

3.1 Effect of curving speed on the characteristics of contact.
Characteristic contacts were observed when the vehicle runs as far as 195 m or running
for 23.88 seconds, the location of this research as shown in Figure 2. The curve track has
the circle curve radius 200 m and direction of track is clockwise. The mass of the vehicle
was maintained constant at 52 tons. At the curve track, there are two points of contact
that is on the rail head and flange face. At the head of the rail, increasing vehicle speed
cause of increasing the normal force to the wheels that are on the left side (1L, 2L, 3L,
and 4L).
Contrary, on the right side wheel (1R, 2R, 3R and 4R) the normal force decreases
with increasing of curving speed as shown in Figure 6. This occurs because of the load
movement due to centrifugal force.

260

I.M. Parwata et al.

On the flange there is a difference tendency of each wheel. Wheels on the left side of
the bogie 1 (1L and 2L) showed a tendency to increase with increasing of curving speed.
While the wheels on the right side bogie 2 (3R and 4R wheels) tend to decrease with
increasing speed. Even the wheels 1R, 2R, 3L and 4L are not in contact with the rails so
that the normal force is zero, as shown in Figure 7.
Meanwhile, the relationship between curving speed and an area on each wheel are
presented in Table 1. This contact area is the total area without involving the area of stick
and slip. It appears that the wheels on the left side increased with increasing of curving
speed. Instead, contact area on the wheels on the right side tends to decrease. The average
of increasing the contact area on the left side on the tread section, from curving speed
32 km/h to 82 km/h is 5.06 × 10–6 m2. Meanwhile, the right side of wheel was reduced by
–5.12 × 10–6 m2.
Figure 6

Normal forces vs. curving speed at tread region (see online version for colours)

Figure 7

Normal forces vs. curving speed at flange region (see online version for colours)

Table 1

52
62
72
82

1L
4.012E-05
7.495E-05
4.301E-05
7.684E-05
4.644E-05
8.295E-05
5.045E-05
8.765E-05
5.466E-05
9.285E-05
6.077E-05
9.626E-05

1R
8.195E-05
0
7.861E-05
0
7.237E-05
0
6.502E-05
0
5.671E-05
0
4.632E-05
0

2L
4.856E-05
2.668E-05
5.046E-05
3.555E-05
5.368E-05
3.903E-05
5.699E-05
4.517E-05
6.163E-05
5.235E-05
6.572E-05
6.466E-05

Wheel
2R
3L
8.981E-05
6.406E-05
0
0
8.597E-05
6.905E-05
0
0
8.175E-05
7.439E-05
0
0
7.659E-05
8.129E-05
0
0
6.89E-05
8.723E-05
0
0
5.861E-05
9.569E-05
0
0

3R
5.649E-05
7.542E-05
5.427E-05
7.337E-05
5.148E-05
6.896E-05
4.755E-05
6.404E-05
4.424E-05
5.881E-05
3.801E-05
5.183E-05

4L
6.938E-05
0
7.39E-05
0
7.925E-05
0
8.571E-05
0
9.25E-05
0
0.0001011
0

4R
5.582E-05
6.51E-05
5.346E-05
6.088E-05
5.081E-05
5.632E-05
4.756E-05
5.052E-05
4.393E-05
4.215E-05
3.865E-05
3.133E-05

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle

42

Contact
type
Tread
Flange
Tread
Flange
Tread
Flange
Tread
Flange
Tread
Flange
Tread
Flange

Contact area for each of curving speed

Curving speed
(km/h)
32

261

262

I.M. Parwata et al.

For the flange section, increasing of contact area occurred on the wheels 1L and 2L.
Average of increasing is 2.96 × 10–6 m2, while for the wheel on the right side the contact
area decreased by 2.87 × 10–6 m2.
Figure 8

Contact pressure vs. curving speed at tread section (see online version for colours)

Effect of curving speed to the contact pressure is shown in Figure 8 for the tread
contact and Figure 9 for the flange contacts. In general, contact pressure increased on
the tread and flange region and contrary to the wheel on the right side. Wheel 2L
receive the greatest contact pressure on tread contact, while the greatest contact
pressure on the flange section received by wheel 1L. The average of tendency of
increased pressures for the wheels come into contact is 5.75 × 106, while on the flange
5.5 × 106.
Figure 9

Contact pressure vs. curving speed at flange section (see online version for colours)

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle

263

3.2 Effect of vehicle mass on the characteristics of contacts
Effect of vehicle mass on the normal force is shown in Figure 10. It shows that the mass
of vehicle increased the normal force in the tread all of wheels. Most of the normal force
is received by the wheels 2R. Surely this will have a significant influence on the pressure
and contact stress. The greatest normal force is received by wheel flange 1L. Thus, it can
be predicted that the wheel 1L will be wear more frequently than the other wheels. The
flange contact did not occur on the wheel flanges 1R, 2R, 3L and 4L as shown in
Figure 11.
Figure 10 Normal force vs. mass of vehicle at tread region (see online version for colours)

At the contact, the relations between vehicle mass and contact area on each wheel are
shown in Table 2. As same as Table 1, the contact area is the total area. It appears that all
of wheels have increased the area by increasing the mass of the vehicle. Increasing of the
average contact area on the tread for all-wheels is 3.68 × 106 m2. It was due to the
increasing of normal force received by the surface contacts. The greatest of contact area
at the flange region occurred on the wheels 1L. While the wheels 1R, 2R, 3L and 4L are
not in contact on the flange. Increasing of the contact area for the wheel is 3.34 × 106 m2.
Figure 11 Normal force vs. mass of vehicle at flange region (see online version for colours)

57
62

1R
6.96E-05
0.00E+00
7.39E-05
0.00E+00
7.86E-05
0.00E+00
8.27E-05
0.00E+00
8.70E-05
0.00E+00

2L
4.44E-05
3.33E-05
4.84E-05
3.05E-05
5.05E-05
3.56E-05
5.41E-05
3.56E-05
5.64E-05
3.76E-05

Wheel
2R
3L
7.48E-05
5.99E-05
0.00E+00
0.00E+00
8.02E-05
6.46E-05
0.00E+00
0.00E+00
8.60E-05
6.90E-05
0.00E+00
0.00E+00
9.13E-05
7.24E-05
0.00E+00
0.00E+00
9.67E-05
7.61E-05
0.00E+00
0.00E+00

3R
4.76E-05
6.47E-05
5.14E-05
6.94E-05
5.43E-05
7.34E-05
5.77E-05
7.74E-05
6.08E-05
8.07E-05

4L
6.54E-05
0.00E+00
6.96E-05
0.00E+00
7.39E-05
0.00E+00
7.80E-05
0.00E+00
8.20E-05
0.00E+00

4R
4.73E-05
5.44E-05
5.02E-05
5.71E-05
5.35E-05
6.09E-05
5.67E-05
6.42E-05
5.97E-05
6.80E-05

I.M. Parwata et al.

52

1L
3.88E-05
6.67E-05
4.00E-05
7.40E-05
4.30E-05
7.68E-05
4.46E-05
8.22E-05
4.70E-05
8.63E-05

Contact area for each of vehicle mass

47

Contact
type
Tread
Flange
Tread
Flange
Tread
Flange
Tread
Flange
Tread
Flange

264

Table 2

Mass of vehicle
(ton)
42

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle

265

Figure 12 Contact pressure vs. mass of vehicle at tread (see online version for colours)

Figure 13 Contact pressure vs. mass of vehicle at flange (see online version for colours)

Figure 12 shows the relation between contact pressure and the mass of vehicle for the
contact that occurs on the wheel tread. It appears that all off wheel, the contact pressure
increased due to increasing of vehicle mass. The average of tendency is 8.13 × 106. It is
for all exposed wheels and wheels 3R get the greatest contact pressure. While vehicle
mass only increased the contact pressure on the wheels 1L, 2L, 3R and 4R at flange area.

4

Conclusions

Base on the above explanation can be concluded: As the vehicle passed the curve track, it
occurred of movement load due to centrifugal force. Consequently, the contact occurred
in the flange. Increased curving speed and mass of vehicle causes at the flange area of
wheels 1L always produced the greatest of normal contact force and contact pressure.
From the analysis of the chart tendency is also concluded, for the tread contact,
increasing of vehicle mass influence more significant when compared with the increasing

266

I.M. Parwata et al.

of curving speed. Meanwhile, on the flange increased curving speed gives greater
influence than the increased vehicle mass.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the PT. INKA (Railway Industry) to give us using UM
software for this simulation. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Yunendar and
Moch Athur for the technical assistance.

References
Baek, K.S., Kyogoku, K. and Nakahara, T. (2007) ‘An experimental investigation of transient
traction characteristics in rolling-sliding wheel/rail contacts under dry-wet conditions’, Wear,
Vol. 263, Nos. 1–6, pp.169–179.
Beagley, T.M. (1976) ‘Severe wear of sliding/rolling contacts’, Wear, Vol. 36, No. 3, pp.317–335.
Beek, A.V. (2006) Advanced Engineering Design Life Time Performance and Reliability, TU Delft
Publisher, Netherland.
Bhaskar, A., Johnson, K.L., Wood, G.D. and Woodhouse, J. (1997a) ‘Wheel-rail dynamics with
closely conformal contact part 1: Dynamic modeling and stability’, Proceedings of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, ProQuest Science Journals, Vol. 211, No. 1, p.11.
Bhaskar, A., Johnson, K.L. and Woodhouse, J. (1997b) ‘Wheel-rail dynamics with closely
conformal contact part 2: Forced response, result and conclusion’, Proceedings of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, ProQuest Science Journals, Vol. 211, No. 1, p.27.
Bolton, P.J. and Clayton, P. (1984) ‘Rolling-sliding wear damage in rail and tyre steels’, Wear,
Vol. 93, pp.145–165.
Bucher, F., Knothe, K. and Theiler, A. (2002) ‘Normal and tangential contact problem of surfaces
with measured roughness’, Wear, Vol. 253, Nos. 1–2, pp.204–218.
Carter, F.W. (1926) ‘On the action of locomotive driving wheel’, Proc. R.Soc. London, Ser. A, Vol.
112, pp.151–157.
Chiverst, T.C. and Radcliffe, S.J. (1987) ‘The variation of lateral forces as a function of alignment
for a cylindrical wheel rolling on a rail’, Tribology International, Vol. 20, No. 5, pp.234–236.
Clayton, P. (1995) ‘Predicting the wear of rails on curves from laboratory data’, Wear, Vol. 181,
Part 1, pp.11–19.
Garg, V.K. and Dukkipati, R.V. (1984) Dynamics of Railway Vehicle Systems, pp.106–107,
Academic Press Canada, Ontario.
Gerlici, J. and Lack, T. (2010) ‘Contact geometry influence on the rail/wheel surface stress
distribution’, Procedia Engineering, Vol. 2, pp.2249–2257.
Ghazavi, M.R. and Taki, M. (2008) ‘Dynamic simulations of the freight three-piece bogie motion
in curve’, Vehicle System Dynamics, Vol. 46, No. 10, pp.955–973.
Guaglianoa, M. and Pau, M. (2007) ‘Analysis of internal cracks in railway wheels under
experimentally determined pressure distributions’, Tribology International, Vol. 40, No. 7,
pp.1147–1160.
Iwnicki, S. (2003) ‘Simulation of wheel-rail contact forces’, Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct.,
Vol. 26, No. 10, pp.887–900.
Iwnicki, S. (2006) Handbook of Railway Vehicle Dynamics, CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group,
Boca Raton, pp.88–92.

Effect of curving speed and mass of railway vehicle

267

Jin, X., Xiao, X., Wen, Z., Guo, J. and Zhu, M. (2009) ‘An investigation into the effect of train
curving on wear and contact stresses of wheel and rail’, Tribology International, Vol. 42,
No. 3, pp.475–490.
Johansson, A. and Nielsen, J.C.O. (2003) ‘Out-of-round railway wheels-wheel-rail contact forces
and track response derived from field test and numerical simulations’, Proceedings of the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Vol. 217, No. 2, pp.135–146.
Lenkiewicz, W. (1969) ‘The sliding friction process effect of external vibrations’, Wear, Vol. 13,
No. 2, pp.99–108.
Matsumoto, A. et al. (2002) ‘Creep force characteristics between rail and wheel on scaled model’,
Wear, Vol. 253, Nos. 1–2, pp.199–203.
Matsumoto, A., Sato, Y., Nakata, M., Tanimoto, M. and Qi, K. (1996) ‘Wheel-rail contact
mechanics at full scale on the test stand’, Wear, Vol. 191, Nos. 1–2, pp.101–106.
Matsumotoa, A. et al. (2008) ‘A new measuring method of wheel-rail contact forces and related
considerations’, Wear, Vol. 265, Nos. 9–10, pp.1518–1525.
Parwata, I.M., Brodjonegoro, S.S. and Puja, I.W. (2008a) ‘Contact stress distribution in rail due to
Impact while wheel roll over a rail joint with rail misalignment in lateral direction’, Prosiding
Seminar Nasional Teknologi Simulasi IV UGM, Yogyakarta, pp.508–514.
Parwata, I.M., Schipper, D.J., Puja, I.W. and Brodjonegoro, S.S. (2008b) ‘Contact stress
distribution in wheel due to impact while wheel roll over a rail joint with rail misalignment in
lateral direction’, Prosiding Seminar Nasional Aplikasi Sains dan Teknologi, Kampus IST
AKPRIND, Yogyakarta, pp.1–8.
Pau, M. (2003) ‘Estimation of real contact area in a wheel-rail system by means of ultrasonic
waves’, Tribology International, Vol. 36, No. 9, pp.687–690.
Pau, M., Aymerich, F. and Ginesu, F. (2000) ‘Ultrasonic measurements of nominal contact area
and contact pressure in a wheel rail system’, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, Vol. 214, No. 4, pp.231–243.
Pau, M., Aymerich, F. and Ginesu, F. (2002) ‘Distribution of contact pressure in wheel-rail contact
area’, Vol. 253, Nos. 1–2, pp.265–274.
Polach, O. (2003) ‘Creep force in simulations of traction vehicles running on adhesion limit’, 6th
International Conference on Contact Mechanics and Wear of Rail/Wheel Systems in
Gothenburg, Sweden, 10–13 June, pp.279–285.
Soemantri, S., Puja, I.W., Budiwantoro, B., Parwata, I.M. and Schipper, D.J. (2010) ‘Solutions to
Hertzian contact problem between wheel and rail for small radius of curvature’, Journal of
Solid Mechanics and Materials Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 6, pp.669–677.
UM User’s Manual (2011) ‘Simulation of railway vehicles’,
http://www.umlab.ru/download/50/eng/08_um_loco.pdf (accessed on 31 March 2011).
Wen, Z., Jin, X. and Zhang, W. (2005) ‘Contact-impact stress analysis of rail joint region using the
dynamic finite element method’, Wear, Vol. 258, pp.1301–1309, Nos. 7–8.
Wiest, M., Kassac, E., Davesa, W., Nielsen, J.C.O. and Ossberger, H. (2008) ‘Assessment of
methods for calculating contact pressure in wheel-rail/switch contact’, Wear, Vol. 265,
Nos. 9–10, pp.1439–1445.
Xia, F., Cole, C. and Wolfs, P. (2008) ‘The dynamic wheel-rail contact stresses for wagon on
various tracks’, Wear, Vol. 265, Nos. 9–10, pp.1549–1555.