Analytical and experimental studies on prediction of lateral dynamic behavior of rail bogie used in Indian railways

In this paper numerical simulation and experimental studies of the lateral dynamic behavior of a typical Indian railway bogie vehicle is presented. A 7 degree of freedom (dof) linear mathematical model of the vehicle has been used for the analysis and natural frequencies have been determined. Kalker's creep theory is applied to evaluate the tangential contact forces acting between wheel and rail. Linear governing equations of motion of the vehicle on a straight track have been solved. A comprehensive study of the lateral stability of the railway vehicle has been performed. The influences of primary suspension lateral stiffness, bending stiffness and shear stiffness of the conventional bogie vehicle on its critical speed have been studied. Dynamic response studies were carried out in the time domain for the vehicle moving on a straight track with the track alignment and gauge irregularities given as input. Extensive experiments were carried out and analytical responses have been compared with measured response. The analytical results are found to compare well with experimental results.