MBS Vehicle-Crossing Model for Crossing Structural Health Monitoring.

This paper presents the development of a multi-body system (MBS) vehicle-crossing model and its application in the structural health monitoring (SHM) of railway crossings. The vehicle and track configurations in the model were adjusted to best match the real-life situation. By using the measurement results obtained from an instrumented crossing and the simulation results from a finite element (FE) model, the MBS model was validated and verified.

Train Hunting Related Fast Degradation of a Railway Crossing-Condition Monitoring and Numerical Verification.

This paper presents the investigation of the root causes of the fast degradation of a railway crossing. The dynamic performance of the crossing was assessed using the sensor-based crossing instrumentation, and the measurement results were verified using the multi-body system (MBS) vehicle-crossing model. Together with the field inspections, the measurement and simulation results indicate that the fast crossing degradation was caused by the high wheel-rail impact forces related to the hunting motion of the passing trains.

Effect of wheel-rail interface parameters on contact stability in explicit finite element analysis.

It is widely recognized that the accuracy of explicit finite element simulations is sensitive to the choice of interface parameters (i.e. contact stiffness/damping, mesh generation, etc.

Improving the performance of finite element simulations on the wheel-rail interaction by using a coupling strategy.

Over the past few years, a number of implicit/explicit finite element models have been introduced for the purpose of tackling the problems of wheel-rail interaction. Yet, most of those finite element models encounter common numerical difficulties. For instance, initial gaps/penetrations between two contact bodies, which easily occur when realistic wheel-rail profiles are accounted for, would trigger the problems of divergence in implicit finite element simulations.