The polygonal wear around the wheel circumference could pose highly adverse influences on the wheel/rail interactions and thereby the performance of the vehicle system. In this study, the effects of wheel polygonalisation on the dynamic responses of a high-speed rail vehicle are investigated through development and simulations of a comprehensive coupled vehicle/track dynamic model. The model integrates flexible slab track, wheelsets and axle boxes subsystem models so as to account for elastic deformations caused by impact loads induced by the wheel polygonalisation. A field-test programme was undertaken to acquire the polygonal wear profile and axle box acceleration response of a high-speed train, and the data are used to demonstrate the validity of the coupled vehicle/track system model. Subsequently, the effects of wheel polygonalisation are evaluated in terms of wheel/rail impact forces, axle box vertical acceleration and dynamic stress developed in the axle considering different amplitudes and harmonic orders of the polygonal wear. The results suggest that the high-order wheel polygonalisation can give rise to high-frequency impact loads at the wheel/rail interface, and excite some of the vibration modes of the wheelset and the axle box leading to high-magnitude axle box acceleration and dynamic stress in the wheelset axle.

Large magnitude impact loads caused by wheel flats may excite various vibration modes of wheelsets employed in high-speed trains and thereby contribute considerably to the dynamic response of vehicles. In this study, the wheelset is modeled as a flexible body using the modal approach, which is integrated to a multibody dynamic model of the high-speed train coupled with a flexible track slab model. The multibody dynamic model is formulated for a typical high-speed train consisting of a car body, two bogie frames, and four wheelsets. The track is modeled considering the rail as a Timoshenko beam discretely supported on a flexible track slab. The effects of the wheelset flexibility on the dynamic response are illustrated through comparisons with those obtained with a rigid wheelset considering different vehicle speeds and sizes of the wheel flat. Subsequently, the effects of wheel flats on the vehicle–track system are evaluated in terms of the wheel–rail impact forces, axle-box vertical acceleration, and dynamic stress developed in the wheelset due to a haversine wheel flat. The results suggest that the wheelset flexibility can lead to significantly higher axle-box vibration and wheelset axle stress compared to a rigid wheelset in the presence of a wheel flat.

This paper introduces a new type of suspended monorail developed in China with the advantages of both German and Japanese monorails. The FE (finite element) model of the bridge is built in Ansys and coupled with the multibody dynamic model of the vehicle in the UM (Universal Machine). software. FIALA formula is used to construct the tire model. Then, the vehicle-bridge coupling system of the new type suspended monorail is set up and simulated with Park method. The result of the modal analysis and vehicle-bridge coupling simulation draw the same conclusion that the span of the stiffeners could result in the resonance of the vehicle system, which is due to the coupling of the frequencies of the natural modes of the car body and bogie with that for vehicle passing through stiffeners. Through the multibody dynamic simulation of the vehicle-bridge coupling system, the modes of the bridge at the frequencies of 5–10, 15–25 and 30–40 Hz are easily excited when the vehicle passes through the bridge. The three constraint modes and free modes of the bridge are similar in these frequency ranges.

High magnitude impact loads caused by polygonal wear of the wheels have been associated with in-service failures of structural components of high-speed railways, although the mechanisms leading to wheels’ polygonalisation is not yet fully understood. In this study, a long-term field test programme is undertaken and the data are analysed to gain better understanding of the growth in polygonal wear, and its characteristics and correlation with the axle box acceleration. The field measurements on a high-speed railway involved monitoring of wheels profiles between successive re-profiling of the wheels so as to identify the rate of growth of wear in addition to the axle box acceleration. The data suggested rapid growth in wheel wear, which could be characterised by polygonal wear of nearly 18th and 19th harmonic order. It is further shown that the magnitude of axle box acceleration increased considerably with increasing wear magnitude of the wheel.

The dynamic characteristics of the hydraulic damper are time-varying in the complex working environment. To reveal the internal influence mechanism of the boundary conditions on the dynamic performance of the hydraulic damper and take it into account in the multi-body dynamics calculation, the laboratory test of the hydraulic damper is carried out firstly, and it is confirmed that the hydraulic damper has significant frequency-dependent and amplitude-dependent and temperature-dependent characteristics. Then, combining the physical parameter model with the neural network model, an accurate hybrid neural network model of the hydraulic damper is proposed. The physical parameter model considers the damper structure, including orifice, damping valve, rubber joint and the relationship between temperature and viscosity of hydraulic oil. The neural network model describes the personality characteristics of the hydraulic damper, such as oil leakage, the internal friction force and the percentage of entrapped air in oil. Finally, the responses and the dynamic parameters of the hybrid neural network model are calculated and compared with the experimental results by considering various exciting amplitudes and frequencies. The results show that the proposed model can fully simulate the dynamic performance of the hydraulic damper under various operating conditions.

We present a detailed investigation of the mechanism of metro wheel polygonal wear using on‐site experiments and numerical simulation. More than 70% of metro wheels exhibit 6^th–8^th harmonic‐order polygonal wear; the excitation frequency of the polygonal wear is located in the 50–70 Hz interval at an operating speed of 65–75 km/h. To determine the root cause of the polygonal wear, a dynamic train behavior test is conducted immediately after wheel reprofiling. The results suggest a natural mode resonance in the vehicle/track system, whose frequency coincides with the passing frequency of the 6^th–8^th order polygonalization. The magnitude of the resonance increases significantly when the vehicle runs on a monolithic concrete bed with DTVI2 fasteners. Thus, a corresponding coupled vehicle/track dynamic model is established and validated by comparing the calculated frequency response functions (FRFs) of tracks and dynamic responses of axlebox acceleration with the measured values. Using multiple timescales, the dynamic model and Archard wear model are integrated in a closed loop for long‐term polygonal wear prediction. The simulated and measured evolution of polygonal wear show good agreement. By combining simulation results and experimental data, we suggest that the P2 resonance is the main contributor to the high amplitude of wheel/rail contact forces in the 50–70 Hz frequency range and the reason for subsequent polygonal wear. Parametric studies show that the dominant order decreases as vehicle speeds increase, representing a “frequency‐constant” mechanism. The wheelset flexibility, especially the bending mode, would aggravate the wheel/rail creepage and further accelerate the formation of polygonal wear. Higher rail pad stiffness will increase P2 resonance frequency and shift the dominant wheel to higher polygonal orders.