Improvement of suspension system of wagons with laminated springs

Abstract

During the exploitation of freight wagons with laminated springs, a large number of fractures of elements of suspension have been noticed. These fractures decrease efficiency of transportation and very often cause the derailment with large economic losses and sometimes with human victims. This paper presents the failure analysis and improvement of suspension of wagons with laminated springs. The technique is based on specially designed rubber elastic elements which can be subsequently installed in suspension of wagons. This solution is result of many years research of Railway Vehicles Center of Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Kraljevo in this field. The rubber elastic element is very easy to install in all existing wagons, between the laminated spring buckle and underframe. The applied methodology is based on theoretical and experimental analysis of behavior of suspension with and without rubber elastic elements. Subsequent installation of rubber elastic elements can prevent very frequent fractures of laminated springs and cracks on the underframes. This provides enormously reduced costs of maintenance of wagons and increased the efficiency of railway transportation.