A survey on countermeasures of railway vehicle stability decrease caused by the evolution of hollow-worn wheels

Abstract

With the problem that the lateral vibration acceleration of the frame of a certain type of Electric Multiple Units (EMU) gradually approaches the limit value as the running mileage increases, the tracking test was conducted on the whole vehicle’s wheel tread wear and the frame’s vibration response. It was found that as the tread hollow-worn increased, the vehicle stability would deteriorate. In order to improve vehicle stability, an optimisation method of EMU stability is proposed based on controlling the evolution of hollow-worn wheels. The results show that after optimisation by this method, the hollow-worn state of the wheel tread is significantly improved; the equivalent conicity of the worn wheel is reduced by 16.39%, and the maximum lateral vibration acceleration of the frame is reduced by 32.02%, so the vehicle stability is also significantly improved; meanwhile, the ride comfort and safety of the vehicle still meet the requirements of the standard.