Development of a finite element simulation model for new continuous measuring method of wheel and rail contact force in railway vehicle

This study describes the construction of FEM analysis model simulating new continuous measuring method of wheel and rail contact force in railway vehicle. In railway track design appraisal, it is important to accurately measure a wheel / rail contact force. There is the new continuous measuring method as one method of measuring contact force from railway vehicle, and it is widely used in Japan. In the new continuous measuring method, contact forces are calculated based on the strains of the wheel and the contact position between the wheel and the rail. In this method, the wheel / rail contact position is assumed to be just below the center of the wheel. However, under conditions where the contact position is significantly different from this assumption, an error is included in the calculated value. In this study, we have modeled the wheelset of the new continuous measuring method by FEM and constructed an analytical method to convert from the analyzed strain to contact forces. Furthermore, the running simulation was carried out under conditions that the contact position was different from the assumed condition, and the difference in contact force was confirmed. As a result, our results confirmed that a difference of 8 to 30% occurs in the obtained contact forces.