An Investigation into the Dynamic Effects on the Track of Wheelflats on Railway Vehicles

Wheelflats on railway vehicles are created by wheelslide in braking: the resulting imperfection in the running line generates dynamic forces and stresses at each subsequent revolution. The authors describe this problem and refer to earlier work on this topic. A field experiment is described, in which an irregularity in the railhead was used to simulate a wheelflat for a range of vehicles, and loads and rail stresses were monitored. The structure and solution procedures of three theoretical models of the vehicle/track system are outlined and typical results are compared with the experimental data to establish the adequacy and limitations of each of the models. Although this paper is primarily concerned with railway track dynamics, the mathematical techniques described could be applied to any problem involving the impact loading of beams.