Wear reduction in light rail systems through asymmetrical railhead profiles

verfasst von

Jochen Brandau, Gerhard Voß, Gerhard Poll

Abstract

This paper deals with a cost-effective method to reduce the huge wheel and rail maintenance efforts required by light rail systems with a high proportion of curved track sections. It mainly relies on asymmetrical railhead profiles which are only used in curves and can be applied to existing track by means of an automised grinding operation. In contrast to merely corrective remedies such as wear resistant materials or lubrication, this measure attacks the roots of excessive wear and damage without however involving expensive design changes to the vehicles. Also, it does not impair running stability on straight track or traction and braking performance, because the changes only affect the rails in curves. Though occasionally applied in heavy rail systems previously, the introduction of these changes to a specific light rail system needs to be carefully investigated and coordinated with an optimisation of the wheel profiles. It is for this reason that the computational simulations and extensive field tests reported in this paper were carried out prior to these changes being generally introduced in the Stuttgart light rail system.

Organisationseinheit(en)

Institut für Maschinenkonstruktion und Tribologie

Externe Organisation(en)

Deutsche Bahn AG

Typ

Aufsatz in Konferenzband

Seiten

305-316

Anzahl der Seiten

12

Publikationsdatum

2002

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Ingenieurwesen (insg.)

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1016/s0167-8922(02)80034-7 (Zugang: Geschlossen)