Minimising wheel wear by optimising the primary suspension stiffness and centre plate friction of self-steering bogies

This paper presents an analysis of wheel wear as a function of the relationship between the lateral and longitudinal primary suspension stiffness and the coefficient of friction at the centre plate between the wagon body and the bolster. The objective is to further minimise the wheel wear rate of a self-steering three-piece bogie without compromising vehicle stability. Simulation results indicate that wheel wear is theoretically the lowest for low lateral and longitudinal primary suspension stiffness and no friction at the centre plate. As zero friction at the centre plate is impractical, a low coefficient of friction and a low primary suspension stiffness were chosen as the optimum.