Basics of experimental determination of wheel-rail contact forces by using instrumented wheelsets

Abstract

The wheel-rail contact forces are the main influential parameters and indicators of quality of dynamic behaviour of railway vehicles. Their exact determination has a great practical importance in development and testing of railway vehicles. Past experiences have shown that the best way for determination of these forces is experimental testing or measurement that can be stationary (track side systems) and continuous (vehicle side systems). When it comes to the vehicle side systems, which are obligatory in many cases of certification of railway vehicles according to the international standards, there is no universally and prescribed technical solution. Consequently, today there are number of solutions of these measuring systems which are mainly based on using of instrumented wheelsets. The aim of this paper is to analyze the most relevant methods and to define basics of measurement of wheel-rail contact forces and contact point position using instrumented wheelsets. Results of the paper can be an important source of information for scientists and engineers, considering the deficiency of literature and scientific publications in this field.