Vehicle-track modelling for rail corrugation initiation investigation

As a part of Australian Rail CRC Project #82 - Bogie Rotation Friction Management, the investigation on rail corrugation initiation has been carried out. This paper reports the progress made on this research. At present, the literature review and the vehicle-track modelling for rail corrugation have been finished. A three-dimensional vehicle-track system dynamics model is developed for the simulations, in which the vehicle dynamics is described using up to 78 degrees of freedom (DOF). The wheelsets are considered as flexible bodies. The track is modeled as one-layered, two rail beams on elastic foundation or two-layered, sleepers included structure. The effect of wheel-rail profiles, wheel-rail interface conditions, curved track parameters, wheelset design parameters and centre bowl rotation friction on the rail corrugations are examined.