Multiple-Railcar High-Speed Train Subject to Braking

The dynamic response of a high-speed multiple-railcar train experiencing deceleration under braking condition over a straight track is investigated using the moving element method. Possible sliding of train wheels over the rails is accounted for. The train is assumed to comprise a locomotive as the leading railcar and several passenger railcars connected to each other through train couplers. Each railcar is modeled as a 15-DOF system of interconnected car body, two bogies and four wheels. The rail is modeled as an Euler–Bernoulli beam resting on a two-parameter elastic damped foundation. The train and rails are coupled through normal and tangential wheel–rail contact forces. The effects of various parameters, such as braking torque, coupler stiffness, coupler gap, wheel load, wheel–rail contact condition, initial train speed and partial failure in braking mechanism on the dynamic response of the train subject to braking are investigated. It is found that there is significant interaction between neighboring railcars when the braking torque is applied between the optimal and critical torques. The former is the torque that would result in the smallest braking distance with no occurrence of wheel sliding and the latter is the smallest torque to cause wheel sliding in all four wheels.