Estimation of Wheel/Rail Contact Conditions Based on State Space Model Using Data Acquired from Instrumented Wheelset

This paper describes a practical method for estimating wheel/rail contact conditions using measurement data from an instrumented wheelset. The aim is to enhance the accuracy of running safety evaluations without significantly increasing measurement costs. This method estimates contact conditions, such as wheelset angle of attack, contact position, and friction coefficient by employing state-space theory and a Kalman filter-based state estimator. Vehicle dynamics simulations demonstrate that the proposed method reliably estimates contact conditions in curved track sections with radii under 600 m. Running test data validated the feasibility of the method and showed that the method provides an efficient solution for estimating contact conditions.