A Potential of Rail Vehicle Having Bolster with Side Bearers for Improving Curving Performance on Sharp Curves Employing Link-Type Forced Steering Mechanism

抄録

The air spring of bolsterless bogie trucks, which have been widely employed in railway vehicles in recent years, undergoes a large distortion when the vehicles negotiate sharp curves in lines such as subway lines, and this can deteriorate the durability of air springs. Furthermore, bolsterless trucks tend to suffer from increased wheel lateral force around sharp curves with a radius of 100 m or less. In this paper we discuss the application of a link-type forced steering mechanism to bogie trucks with a bolster as a countermeasure against the above-mentioned situation. A numerical simulation is carried out using a MBS software, SIMPACK. As a result, under the condition of reduced longitudinal stiffness in the primary suspension, a bolster truck with the link-type steering mechanism exhibits the potential to suppress the wheel lateral force occurring around sharp curves. Also, the deterioration in running stability due to the application of the steering mechanism can be recovered by adding moderate lateral damping in the secondary suspension. In addition, the obtained wear index shows that the forced steering truck has decreased flange wear resulting from passing through sharp curves.