Effect of the tank car thickness on the nonlinear dynamics of railroad vehicles

Abstract

The expression of the centrifugal forces resulting from a flexible body negotiating a curve differs significantly from the expression of the centrifugal forces used in rigid body dynamics. In rigid body railroad vehicle dynamics, the balance speed does not depend on the body inertia; it depends on the vehicle speed, super elevation, track gauge, and gravity constant. This is not, however, the case when the structural flexibility is considered. In this paper, a general multibody system (MBS) approach that accounts for the nonlinear dynamic coupling between the wheel–rail contact forces and the tank car structural flexibility is used to examine the effect of increasing the tank car thickness on the nonlinear dynamics of railroad vehicles. The flexible tank cars are modelled in this investigation using the nonlinear finite element (FE) floating frame of reference (FFR) formulation. The tank car FE model is integrated with a computational railroad vehicle algorithm in which a three-dimensional elastic contact formulation is used to describe the rail–wheel interaction in order to allow for wheel–rail separations. A complete expression for the centrifugal and Coriolis forces is used with triangular shell finite elements to develop the tank car models with different thicknesses. The effect of the coupling between different modes of displacements is examined by comparing the results of the simulations of the flexible and rigid tank car models. A parametric study is performed in order to explain the effect of the thickness increase on the tank car natural frequencies. Furthermore, the effect of increasing the tank car thickness on the critical speed as well as on the nonlinear dynamics of the railroad vehicle during curve negotiation is examined. The FE/FFR formulation allows for accurately capturing the effect of the change of the tank car thickness on the centrifugal and Coriolis inertia forces that define the balance speed during curve negotiations. The analysis presented in this paper shows that there is a strong dynamic coupling between different modes of displacements of the tank car, the plate thickness, and the wheel–rail contact parameters. The effect of increasing the tank car thickness on the wheel wear is also examined in this paper.

Keywords

Flexible tank car multibody systems railroad vehicle dynamics floating frame of reference finite element method wheel–rail contact

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

O’Shea

Shabana

. Analytical and numerical investigation of wheel climb at large angle of attack. Nonlinear Dynam 2015; 83: 555–577.

Wronski R. As more oil flows by rail, concerns grow about safety of the tank cars. tribunedigital-chicagotribune, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-11-29/news/ct-dangerous-tank-cars-met-1129-20131129_1_tank-cars-oil-production-more-oil-flows (2013, accessed 9 March 2016).

Tate C. NTSB adds railroad tank car safety to ‘Most Wanted’ list. mcclatchydc, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/economy/article24778348.html (2015, accessed 9 March 2016).

King C and Trichur R. Train carrying crude oil derails in Ontario. WSJ, http://www.wsj.com/articles/train-carrying-crude-oil-derails-in-ontario-1424015961 (2015, accessed 9 March 2016).

Crummy B. Mile-long train carrying crude oil derails, explodes in North Dakota. NBC News, http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/30/22113442-mile-long-train-carrying-crude-oil-derails-explodes-in-north-dakota?lite (2015, accessed 9 March 2016).

Gebrekidan S. CSX train carrying oil derails in Virginia in fiery blast. Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/30/us-railways-accident-virginia-idUSBREA3T0YW20140430 (2015, accessed 9 March 2016).

Yan H, Conlon K. Train derails in West Virginia, triggers explosions. CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/17/us/west-virginia-train-derailment/ (2015, accessed 9 March 2016).

Lac-Mégantic rail disaster. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lac-M%C3%A9gantic_rail_disaster (2015, accessed 9 March 2016).

National Transportation Safety Board. Collision of Norfolk southern freight train 192 with standing Norfolk southern local train P22 with subsequent hazardous materials release at Graniteville, SC. Railroad Accident Report. Report no. NTSB/RAR-05/04, 6 January 2005. 2005 p.

10.

National Transportation Safety Board. Collision of Union Pacific railroad train MHOTU-23 with BNSF railway company train MEAP-TUL-126-D with subsequent derailment and hazardous materials release, Macdona, TX. Railroad Accident Report. Report no. NTSB/RAR-06/03, 28 June 2004. 2004 p.

11.

Diana

Cheli

Bruni

. Dynamic interaction between rail vehicles and track for high speed train. Vehicle Syst Dynam 1995; 24: 15–30.

12.

Carlbom

. Combining MBS with FEM for rail vehicle dynamics analysis. Multibody Syst Dynam 2001; 6: 291–300.

13.

Shi

Luo

. Application of DVA theory in vibration reduction of carbody with suspended equipment for high-speed EMU. Sci China Technol Sci 2014; 57: 1425–1438.

14.

Shi

Luo

. Influence of equipment excitation on flexible carbody vibration of EMU. J Modern Transport 2014; 22: 195–205.

15.

Leyva-Díaz

Trejo-Escandón

Flores-Herrera

. Modal analysis of railroad tank car using FEM. IJETT 2014; 16: 49–53.

16.

Trejo-Escandón

Leyva-Díaz

Sandoval-Pineda

. Static and fatigue analysis of the front draft lugs of a railroad tank-car using FEM. IJETT 2014; 16: 43–48.

17.

. The modal analysis of tank cars on the basis of fluid-solid coupling principle. Rolling Stock 2010; 48: 9–11.

18.

Di Gialleonardo

Premoli

Gallazzi

. Sloshing effects and running safety in railway freight vehicles. Vehicle Syst Dynam 2013; 51: 1640–1654.

19.

Wang

Jiménez Octavio

Wei

. Low order continuum-based liquid sloshing formulation for vehicle system dynamics. J Computat Nonlinear Dynam 2015; 10: 021022–021022.

20.

Tang Y, Yu H, Gordon J, et al. Analyses of full-scale tank car shell impact tests. In: ASME 2007 rail transportation division fall technical conference, Chicago, Illinois, 11–12 September 2007, pp.29–37.

21.

Tang Y, Yu H, Gordon J, et al. Analysis of railroad tank car shell impacts using finite element method. In: Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE/ASME joint rail conference, Wilmington, Delaware, 22–24 April 2008, pp.61–70.

22.

Jeong D, Tang Y and Perlman A. Semi-analytical approach to estimate railroad tank car shell puncture. In: Proceedings of the ASME/ASCE/IEEE 2011 joint rail conference, Pueblo, Colorado, 16–18 March 2011, pp.219–228.

23.

Tunna

Sinclair

Perez

. A review of wheel wear and rolling contact fatigue. Proc IMechE, Part F: J Rail and Rapid Transit 2007; 221: 271–289.

24.

Enblom

. Deterioration mechanisms in the wheel–rail interface with focus on wear prediction: a literature review. Vehicle Syst Dynam 2009; 47: 661–700.

25.

Shabana

Sany

. A survey of rail vehicle track simulations and flexible multibody dynamics. Nonlinear Dynam 2001; 26: 179–210.

26.

Iwnicki

. Handbook of railway vehicle dynamics, Boca Raton, FL: CRC/Taylor & Francis, 2006.

27.

Chaar

Berg

. Vehicle-track dynamic simulations of a locomotive considering wheelset structural flexibility and comparison with measurements. Proc IMechE, Part F: J Rail and Rapid Transit 2005; 219: 225–238.

28.

Chaar

Berg

. Simulation of vehicle–track interaction with flexible wheelsets, moving track models and field tests. Vehicle Syst Dynam 2006; 44: 921–931.

29.

Sanborn

Tobaa

Shabana

. Coupling between structural deformations and wheel–rail contact geometry in railroad vehicle dynamics. Proc IMechE, Part K: J Multi-body Dynamics 2008; 222: 381–392.

30.

Eickhoff

Evans

Minnis

. A review of modelling methods for railway vehicle suspension components. Vehicle Syst Dynam 1995; 24: 469–496.

31.

Shabana

. Dynamics of multibody systems, 4th ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

32.

Shi

. Flexible vibration analysis for car body of high-speed EMU. J Mech Sci Technol 2016; 30: 55–66.

33.

Shabana

Tobaa

Sugiyama

. On the computer formulations of the wheel–rail contact problem. Nonlinear Dynam 2005; 40: 169–193.

34.

Shabana

Zaazaa

Sugiyama

. Railroad vehicle dynamics, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2008.

35.

UIC. Testing and approval of railway vehicles from the point of view of their dynamic behaviour-safety-track fatigue-running behaviour. 4th ed. Paris: International Union of Railways. Code 518.

36.

Archard

. Contact and rubbing of flat surfaces. J Appl Phys 1953; 24: 981–981.

37.

Kalker

. A fast algorithm for the simplified theory of rolling contact. Vehicle Syst Dynam 1982; 11: 1–13.

38.

Aceituno J, Wang P, Wang L, et al. Influence of rail flexibility in a wheel–rail wear prediction model. Proc IMechE, Part F: J Rail and Rapid Transit, http://pif.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/11/24/0954409715618426.abstract?rss=1 (2015, accessed 9 March 2016).