Abstract
Understanding the vehicle/track interaction excited by a vehicle negotiating a sharp curve is of great importance when analyzing vehicle stability and material integrity such as wheel flange and rail gauge corner wear and track component deterioration. The wheel set angle of attack and lateral forces interacting between wheel and rail have been particularly focused on as parameters governing vehicle/track interaction. Contact geometry can be determined easily by worn flange profiles and gauge corners, but the wheel/rail interface such as the coefficient of friction related to lubrication and/or contamination also effects vehicle/track interaction. For this study, some track site measurement was carried out on sharp curves at a Railway Technical Research Institute (RTRI) test track and on operational sections of the West Japan Railway Company to investigate the effect of lubrication on vehicle/track interaction. This paper describes the detailed setup and results of these track site measurements.
