PARAMETRIC INSTABILITY OF TWIN WHEELS MOVING ON A PERIODICALLY SUPPORTED RAIL

Abstract

The parametric instability of wheels moving with constant velocity on a periodically supported rail is in-vestigated. The railway track is modeled by an infinite Timoshenko beam and viscoelastic supports located with constant spacing. The wheelsets of a moving bogie are represented by two point masses. An analytic solution is derived for the quasi-steady-state wheels-track dynamic interaction problem, and homogeneous matrix equations are obtained for the Fourier coefficients of the wheel/rail contact forces. The influences of the ratio of wheelbase to support spacing and of the damping in the rail pad on the parametric instability are discussed.