Simulation study of railway vehicle suspension damage

The article presents the possibility of using a simulation package to assess the technical condition of a railway vehicle suspension. Simulation studies were conducted on a modeled track with a good maintenance level to obtain information on the possibility of monitoring the technical condition of the suspension and detecting its damage. The objects of the study are passenger carriages. The first one has steel springs in the secondary suspension, while the second one has pneumatic springs represented by the Nishimura model implemented in the program. Damage to the flexible and damping elements of the suspension was modeled by reducing the stiffness and damping coefficients.INTRODUCTION
In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on improving the safety (active and passive) of transport modes. Rail transport, characterized by a high level of safety, cannot resist this trend either, as tragic disasters occur in its case as well. One must also keep in mind the growing requirements for creating new high-speed rail connections (China) and increasing freight transport. One way to increase active safety is to use monitoring of the technical condition of key vehicle components from the point of view of driving dynamics. These components undoubtedly include the flexible-damping elements of the suspension, which have a significant impact on running safety. Deterioration of the parameters of these vehicle elements results in a reduction of dynamic properties, which can cause faster wear of wheels and rails, as well as a decrease in driving safety, which in extreme cases can threaten derailment.
The benefit of using suspension condition monitoring is not only the improvement of safety but can also be the facilitation of vehicle operation, as thanks to the system, it will be possible to locate elements whose condition deviates from the nominal one.
Thanks to this, rational operation of the vehicle and an increase in its operational readiness will be possible. These factors translate into cost reductions for carriers in the event of potential failures or accidents.
Due to the difficulties in assessing the suspension condition in on-line mode and the lack of such a system for commercial use, the issue of suspension condition monitoring is not yet mandatory. (…)

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