Investigation of fatigue strength evaluation of welded structure on spirally welded tank wagon via finite element analysis

Rail systems transportation is developing in a constantly increasing demand due to its safety and capability. Qualified vehicle designs are carried out to improve transportation performance and duration. Design approaches such as increasing the quality of the materials, increasing the performance of critical zones exposing dynamic loading, and reducing the percentage of critical locations in the entire vehicle are constantly developed. In this study, the performance of the spirally welded tank wagon under static and dynamic loading was examined via three-dimensional finite element analysis. It is particularly focused on welded zones causing critical stress and failure under dynamic loading. The differences between the spirally welded and conventional (Zaes) tank wagon produced with different welding connection and geometry approaches were also examined.