Structural and dynamic assessment of a friction buffer stop

Abstract Under peculiar conditions railway braking system ca fail giving insufficient braking force during train ride or while standstill and buffer stops are used to avoid derailments at the end of railway tracks (dead tracks). Fixed stops are suitable only for quasi-static movements, while absorbing energy stops using hydraulic cylinders, friction shoes clamped on the rail head or a combination of both methods, are installed if crashes at higher speeds (about 25 km/h) are forecasted. Impact forces generated due to the interaction between train and buffer stops require a suitable design of the steel structure which is subjected to stress values depending on the braking performances of the buffer stop itself and a combined structural and dynamic analysis must be carried out to perform a proper design. Due to unavailability of detailed models and the uncertainties of the actual braking performances, the structure of currently available friction buffer stops is heavy and bulky, made of several steel profiles welded or bolted to each other. The paper describes an innovative and optimized design for friction buffer stops focusing on the dynamic analysis performed by Finite Element Method to assess the braking performances and structural strength of the buffer stop.