WHEEL TREAD PROFILE AS A RAIL VEHICLE DESIGN PARAMETER

Rail vehicle running gear must satisfy conflicting requirements for good response and stability on tangent (straight) track and good guidance in curves. A frequently overlooked characteristic, the wheel tread profile, can be designed in conjunction with the vehicle suspension to meet those objectives. The dynamic performance of vehicles with low, moderate and high conicity wheel profiles is reported. Design charts for stability and curving are utilized to finind optimum primary suspension values to accompany each wheel profile. The results demonstrate that high conicity wheel profiles offer significant overall performance advantages over low conicity wheel profiles. However, the truck primary suspension must be designed to match the wheel profile in order to realize the potential improvement.

• Corporate Authors:

  American Society of Mechanical Engineers

  Two Park Avenue
  New York, NY  United States  10016-5990
• Authors:
  • Cooperrider, N E
  • Wirth, J L
• Publication Date: 1982

Media Info

• Pagination: 8 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Hunting (Dynamics); Mechanical stability; Railcar trucks; Ride quality; Steering; Suspension systems; Tire treads; Trucks; Vehicle design; Wheels
• Uncontrolled Terms: Lateral dynamics
• Old TRIS Terms: Suspension (Stability); Wheel tread profile
• Subject Areas: Motor Carriers; Public Transportation; Railroads; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00389843
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: British Railways
• Report/Paper Numbers: ASME 82-WA/DSC-3
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 30 1984 12:00AM