TESTS ON AUTOMATIC COUPLINGS. COMPRESSION TESTS ON THE TRACK AT VAIRES FROM 1966 TO 1968. (TEXT, TABLES, FIGURES AND APPENDICES)

The report gives the results of the tests on the track under high longitudinal compressive forces, carried out with a train made up of two-axled wagons equipped with the automatic coupler, with and without side-buffers, on a test section comprising a stretch of tangent track with adjoining curve of 150 m radius, without intervening transition curve. The object of the tests was to determine what was the maximum longitudinal force which could be exerted without a wagon becoming derailed, and this as a function of different parameters such as wheelbase, type of suspension, type of articulation. For comparison purposes, tests with screw-couplings and side-buffers were carried out. The test track, i.e. stretch off tangent track with adjoining curve of 150 m radius without intervening transition curve, was chosen with a view to obtaining unfavourable conditions occurring in practice. The tests have shown that the safety against derailment of two-axled wagons equipped with the automatic coupler without side-buffers is improved: by using an articulation which, in addition to a vertical alignment control system, also possesses a horizontal alignment control system; by increasing, for a wagon of given length exceeding 10 m, the ratio wheelbase/length over buffers. No influence of the type of suspension could be clearly observed. In certain cases, there was an influence, but in other cases this influence was negligible. The results obtained with the screw-coupling and side-buffers have nearly always been better than those obtained with the automatic coupler with and without side-buffers.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Restrictions on the use of this document are contained in the explanatory material.
• Corporate Authors:

  International Union of Railways

  Office of Research and Experiments
  Utrecht,   Netherlands 
• Publication Date: 1969-10

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 99 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Couplers; Design; Motor vehicles; Ride quality; Stability (Mechanics); Tests; Train track dynamics
• Old TRIS Terms: Automatic couplers; Automatic coupling; Center buffer couplers; Question b51; Side buffers
• Subject Areas: Design; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00053043
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: International Union of Railways
• Report/Paper Numbers: B51/RP 9/E
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 3 1976 12:00AM