• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.46-54
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• 2014

The hollow design of a railway axle is one of the most effective methods to reduce the weight of an axle. However, the conventional hollow axle has the limitation of a lightweight design because it has the same bore diameter along the axial position. The new type of railway axle, the tapered inner surface railway axle, has a different inner diameter between the journal bearing seat and wheel seat. This design method is one way to increase the weight reduction possibility. The purpose of the present study is to establish and evaluate the design of the tapered inner surface railway axle. The case study and Finite Element Method(FEM) are applied to evaluate the strength of the lightweight railway axle according to the European Norm(EN 13103). Finally, the best design case for reducing the weight of the axle is drawn from the results of the case study.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.777-782
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• 2014

Usually, railway axles are designed for infinite life based on endurance limit of the material and the axle is not fractured immediately when a surface crack initiated. The railway axles have been inspected regularly by NDT such as ultrasonic testing, magnetic testing and eddy current testing and so on. Because the axle failure is profoundly influenced by the probability of missing a fatigue crack during an NDT inspection, it is necessary to evaluate the Non Destructive Interval of railway axle. In the present paper, the Non Destructive Interval of railway axle based on fracture mechanics and finite element analysis was investigated. It was shown that the Non Destructive Interval of railway axle can be evaluated using fracture mechanics approach and extended using NDT which a crack can detect clearly.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.124-131
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• 1999

The axle spring is used in primary suspension component of railway vehicles. The most important factor of axle spring is to have adequate spring constant for comfortable feeling of ride. The non-linear properties of rubber which were important parameter to evaluate of rubber components, were determined by the characteristic test. The finite element analysis of the axle spring are executed to predict the behavior of deformation and stiffness by using commercial FEA code.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.579-590
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• 2012

Weight reduction of a railway axle, which is one of heaviest parts in an urban railway vehicle, is discussed in this paper. A wheelset of a railway vehicle is very important with regard to railway safety, and its structural strength should always be considered when attempting to reduce the railway axle weight. In this work, the weight of the axles of a trailer bogie and a motor bogie of the Korean EMU was reduced by replacing solid axles with hollow axles. On the basis of the EN standard for railway axle design, the strength of existing solid axles was analyzed and the required bore size of a hollow axle was determined. It is shown that the weight of the concurrent axle of the Korean EMU can be reduced by up to 20% with a very small decrease in the structural strength. Finite element analyses were also carried out to verify the design result for lightweight hollow axles.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.116-120
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• 2010

The wheelset, an assembly of wheel and axle, is one of important parts in railway bogie, directly related with the running safety of railway rolling stock. In this investigation, the tensile failure behavior of railway axle materials was investigated. The tensile coupons were prepared from the actual rolling stock parts, which were operated over 20 years. The tensile testing was performed according to the KS guideline. During tensile testing, an infrared camera was employed to monitor temperature changes in specimen as well as demonstrate temperature contour in terms of infrared thermographic images. The thermographic images of tensile specimens showed comparable results with mechanical behavior of tensile materials. In this paper, the failure mode and behavior of railway axle materials were provided with the aid of infrared thermography technique.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.263-278
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• 2019

Moving train load parameters, including train speed, axle spacing, gross train weight and axle weights, are identified based on strain-monitoring data. In this paper, according to influence line theory, the classic moving force identification method is enhanced to handle time-varying velocity of the train. First, the moments that the axles move through a set of fixed points are identified from a series of pulses extracted from the second derivative of the structural strain response. Subsequently, the train speed and axle spacing are identified. In addition, based on the fact that the integral area of the structural strain response is a constant under a unit force at a unit speed, the gross train weight can be obtained from the integral area of the measured strain response. Meanwhile, the corrected second derivative peak values, in which the effect of time-varying velocity is eliminated, are selected to distribute the gross train weight. Hence the axle weights could be identified. Afterwards, numerical simulations are employed to verify the proposed method and investigate the effect of the sampling frequency on the identification accuracy. Eventually, the method is verified using the real-time strain data of a continuous steel truss railway bridge. Results show that train speed, axle spacing and gross train weight can be accurately identified in the time domain. However, only the approximate values of the axle weights could be obtained with the updated method. The identified results can provide reliable reference for determining fatigue deterioration and predicting the remaining service life of railway bridges.

• International Journal of Railway
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.127-130
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• 2009

The system improves the safety and efficiency of railway transport, combining the advanced axle-counter with single-track semiautomatic block. Using computer, to accomplish relay-based semiautomatic block logic operation and axle-counter to check section status, it will further increase the performance of railway transport. Safety-related communication is one of the important topics in railway signal system. By referring to relevant safety-related communication standards, to research on safety-related communication of Micro-computer automatic block between Railway Stations System, the thesis introduces the basic requirements, concept model, codes, and the process, etc.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.703-718
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• 2016

Masonry arch bridges present a large segment of Iranian railway bridge stock. The ever increasing trend in traffic requires constant health monitoring of such structures to determine their load carrying capacity and life expectancy. In this respect, the performance of one of the oldest masonry arch bridges of Iranian railway network is assessed through field tests. Having a total of 11 sensors mounted on the bridge, dynamic tests are carried out on the bridge to study the response of bridge to test train, which is consist of two 6-axle locomotives and two 4-axle freight wagons. Finite element model of the bridge is developed and calibrated by comparing experimental and analytical mid-span deflection, and verified by comparing experimental and analytical natural frequencies. Analytical model is then used to assess the possibility of increasing the allowable axle load of the bridge to 25 tons. Fatigue life expectancy of the bridge is also assessed in permissible limit state. Results of F.E. model suggest an adequacy factor of 3.57 for an axle load of 25 tons. Remaining fatigue life of Veresk is also calculated and shown that a 0.2% decrease will be experienced, if the axle load is increased from 20 tons to 25 tons.

• International Journal of Railway
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2008

The railway system requires safety and reliability of service of all railway vehicles. Suitable technical systems and working methods adapted to it, which meet the requirements on safety and good order of traffic, should be maintained. For detection of defects, non-destructive testing methods-which should be quick, reliable and cost-effective - are most often used. Since failure in railway wheelset can cause a disaster, regular inspection of defects in wheels and axles are mandatory. Ultrasonic testing, acoustic emission and eddy current testing method and so on regularly check railway wheelset in service. However, it is difficult to detect a crack initiation clearly with ultrasonic testing due to noise echoes. It is necessary to develop a non-destructive technique that is superior to conventional NDT techniques in order to ensure the safety of railway wheelset. In the present paper, the new NDT technique is applied to the detection of surface defects for railway wheelset. To detect the defects for railway wheelset, the sensor for defect detection is optimized and the tests are carried out with respect to surface and internal defects each other. The results show that the surface crack depth of 1.5 mm in press fitted axle and internal crack in wheel could be detected by using the new method. The ICFPD method is useful to detect the defect that initiated in railway wheelset.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.1940-1945
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• 2007

The wheelsets are one of most important component: damages in wheel tread and press fitted axle are a significant cost for railway industry. Since failure in railway wheelset can cause a disaster, regular inspection of defects in wheels and axles are mandatory. Ultrasonic testing, acoustic emission and eddy current testing method and so on regularly check railway wheelset in service. However, it is difficult to use this method because of its high viscosity and because its sensitivity is affected by temperature. Also, due to noise echoes it is difficult to detect defects initiation clearly with ultrasonic testing. It is necessary to develop a non-destructive technique that is superior to conventional NDT techniques in order to ensure the safety of railway wheelset. In the present paper, the new NDT technique is applied to the detection of surface defects for railway wheelset. To detect the defects for railway wheelset, the sensor for defect detection is optimized and the tests are carried out with respect to surface and internal defects each other. The results show that the surface crack depth of 1.5 mm in press fitted axle and internal crack in wheel could be detected by using the new method. The ICFPD method is useful to detect the defect that initiated in the tread of railway wheelset.