CHAPTER : INTRODUCTION

Determining the available friction is one of the most important aspect in Rail
Vehicle Dynamics. Throughout the years, many researchers have tried to provide
a basis for calculation of the available adhesion between the rail and the wheel.
This part of the thesis will try to focus on establishing the concept of adhesion
which will be dealt in detail in the subsequent parts.

Development of numerical model which employs the wheel-rail adhesion found

from the data obtained through the real world tests.

I believe I should try and put all the theories that have been developed in the
model in order to quantify the experimental data in the best possible way. So, the
final model which will be created should be able to mimic the real world scenario
and the results should be equivalent to what we see in the real world which
means that stopping distance simulated in the model should be equivalent to
what we see in reality.
Modelling of wheel rail contact
Points
Adhesion loss, wheel slide, energy dissipation, cleaning effect, adhesion recovery

1. INTRODUCTION
The friction force can be defined as the resistance over by one body to the
motion of the other body moving over it. This resistive force acts parallel to the
direction of motion. This definition covers both the case of rolling as well as
sliding bodies. The force of friction is given as the ratio between the friction force
(Ffr) and the normal (N):

F fr = . N

Figure 1:
Friction is divided into two parts: static friction and sliding friction.
Figure (1) depicts a rectangular solid body of mass m which rests on the
horizontal surface. Suppose, a force (F) acts on the box parallel to the surface
but is unable to move the box, then it can be concluded that the force preventing
the box to slide over the surface is due to static friction. The coefficient of static
friction is given as s. If the box begins to slide over the surface due to the
application of the force, sliding friction begins to act between the surfaces. The
coefficient of sliding friction is given by k. It is important to note that the
coefficient of static friction is always more than the sliding friction.
For bodies in sliding motion, the friction force, and thereby the coefficient of
friction depends on three different mechanism in dry and mixed lubricated
condition[1]: deformation of asperities, adhesion of the sliding surfaces, and
ploughing caused by deterioration particles and hard asperities. Hence, the
coefficient of friction cannot be exactly given by a simple formula for a surface
and needs to be measured experimentally. This will be discussed in detail later
on in the subsequent chapters.
Now, Let us consider the case of a body rolling on a surface as shown in Figure 2.

Velocity
(v)
Rolling
Stock
Mass M

R
Fx

M
gg

Figure 2: Forces acting on the wheels of a Rolling Stock

The body rolls on the surface with a certain angular velocity (w) and linear
velocity (v) as result of the torque applied through the axis of rotation. As a result
of the application of the tractive torque, a reactive longitudinal force (F x) acts at
the point of contact between the cylinder and the surface. The ration between
this tractive force and the normal at the point of contact is called the friction
coefficient or the popularly the adhesion coefficient in the field of railways.

Similar phenomena can be described in the case of braking of a railway vehicle

wherein Fb acts to stop the motion of the vehicle as shown in Figure (2b). It is to
be noted that during a rolling motion, there is no tangential velocity of the
contact point and it remains stationary. Hence, the force of static friction acts at
the interface between the rolling body and the surface.
In 1926, Carter showed that the difference between the circumferential velocity
as well as the tangential velocity has a non-zero value as soon as an accelerating
or braking couple is applied to the wheel. This is called as creep in Railway
vehicle dynamics and is given by the following expression.
Carter, presented a law called the creepage-force law and established the
following relationship

Ft
= K+ if k [ ] 2
fFz sign ( ) if k [ ] 2

According to him the interaction between a wheel and a rail can be divided into
stick (no slip) and slip regions. According to the theory of Hertz [], the contact
area between the wheel and the rail can be considered to be in the form of an
ellipse. In Figure 3, it can be seen the points of contact in a wheel-rail contact.
Figure 4 represents Carters creepage-force law and shows how the region of
stick and slip varies as the traction force is increased from null value.
A: Null Traction
B: Intermediate Stage
C: Pure Sliding (No Stick)
Point A: At null traction (i.e. =0), the entire contact region is in stick. This
condition corresponds to a state of pure rolling wherein no longitudinal motion of
the wheel over the rails takes place and the wheel rolls without slipping on the
rails.
Point B: As the tractive effort is increased, the area of stick decreases and the
area of slip increases, resulting in a rolling and sliding contact. This slip here is
referred to as micro-slip or partial slip condition. The surface traction in the
region can be given by the product of the --------------------------------. The maximum
amount of tractive effort which can be applied depends on the capability of the
contact patch to absorb traction. It is dependent of the coefficient of friction
available between the surfaces.
Point C: This point corresponds to the condition wherein the tractive effort has
reached its saturation value resulting in pure sliding condition. This stick region
disappears the entire contact region is in slip. At this point the adhesion
coefficient is equal to the friction coefficient. Any increase in the tractive effort
will lead to an increase in slip value.

Raliway operation should be

Smooth, low cost, environment friendly, safe, punctual service. Adhesion affects
all universally
Adhesion between the wheel and the rail depends on the type of contaminants
existing between the two interfaces. Many researchers have suggested that the
adhesion decreases considerable in condition of rain and snow. However,
predicting adhesion becomes very difficult because of the nature of the
contaminants which can exist between the wheel and the rail. Wheel slips when
adhesion force is smaller than the driving force during acceleration and wheels
slide when adhesion force is smaller than the braking force during braking.
Degraded adhesion during braking leads to increase in stopping distance i.e. a
safety issue and successively decreases the efficiency of the braking system.
Low conditions of adhesion leads to wheel slip which is dangerous to both the rail
and the wheels (excessive shear stress causing severe wear and surface fatigue).
Hua Chen et al [] clarified through experiments and numerical simulations that
running speed, water temperature and surface roughness have a comparatively
large effects on the adhesion coefficient. Chen showed that higher values of
water temperature and surface roughness results in increased values of adhesion
coefficient.
As a result, it becomes difficult to obtain a realistic adhesion model because of
the complex and highly non-linear behaviour of the adhesion coefficient due to
the presence of an external unknown contaminant (third body).
The minimum adhesion was found to be in the case of damp leaf film on rail. The
following table lists some experimental values of typical adhesion coefficient in
different scenarios.

Conditions
Temperature (C)
Sunshine, dry rail
19
Recent rain on rail
5
A lot of grease on rail
8
Damp leaf film on rail
8
Table . Friction coefficients measured on metro lines
tribometer [1].

Friction coefficient
0.60.7
0.20.3
0.050.1
0.050.1
using a hand-pushed

Water can lead to low adhesion due to surface oxidation/also affected by

surface topography, water temperature and surface oxidation
[INSERT EXPERIMENTAL DATA CURVES]
Oil Tends to cause a reduction in the adhesion coefficient the layer can carry
the normal load
[INSERT EXPERIMENTAL DATA CURVES]
Leaves due to the chemical reaction between leaves and the bulk material. The
thickness of the surface oxide layer is found to be an essential factor in
determining adhesion reduction

[INSERT EXPERIMENTAL DATA CURVES]

Some contaminants can increase the adhesion thereby resulting in more traction
requirement causing a higher energy consumption since more tractive effort
needs to be applied.
).

CHAPTER 2:
This part puts forward the theories that have put forward by various researchers
to calculate the adhesion coefficient at the wheel-rail interface. This chapter
starts with explaining relevant theory given by Hertz for the calculation of the
contact ellipse. This will be followed by the theory established by JJ.Kalker ----------

APPROACH 1
This approach is based on the real world data available from the on track testing.
Following one of the trace that is captured by the BCU. The parameters that are
taken from the trace are: Vehicle Velocity, Axle Velocities and the pressure in the
cylinders which leads to the braking force.
The data points available in the trace is at 100ms. The BCU works at 20ms.

Wheel
Brake
Disc

Mg

Fb

FA

Fig: Forces

acting on the wheel during braking

The force-diagram for the problem is

Mass of the train (M): 62 tons
Moment of Inertia of the axle:

J=

M ) . R
( M 1.045
4

[Formulation provided by

FT]
Radius of the wheel: R
Pressure in the cylinder: P
The braking force can also be calculated through the following method given by
Allota et al [].

F=Fi . 4=( P. AF spring ) .

Fi

2
. .4
1 l

( )

Application force transmitted from the pad to the disc for the axle i

P Pressure in the brake cylinders

A Brake cylinder area
Fspring Reaction force of the spring in the brake cylinder

2
1

Amplification ration of the callipers

Mechanical efficiency of the callipers

Instead of using the above formulation, the following formulation have been used
which has been provide by the brake pads manufacturer

Fb =(

P174
)
0.1565

Note: The formulation does not contain the change in braking effort as a result of
the hysteresis in the cylinder, the change in adhesion between the pad and the
disc as a result of the contaminants, variation of the pad thickness, effect due to
temperature etc.
The equation of motion for the axle:

Ft . R=F b . R +J .

d
; where F t = . N
dt

d
dt
R

J.
=F b +

Angular speed of the wheels

Note: The normal force has been considered constant and no variation has been
considered due to the dynamics of the body as well as the contribution of the
third body leading to decrease in the real normal force.
To estimate the initial value of adhesion based on UIC specified procedure
UIC provides a procedure to determine the initial adhesion level as per the
following procedure.
V(i+
V(i-

Since each time step is of roughly 100 ms, two time steps for velocity has been
considered. The other way could be to take the mean of the deceleration value
directly from the trace for the time steps.
For this analysis to be done on the trace, the analysis should start once the brake
has been applied. The instant at which the axle speed starts to show a noticeable
difference from the vehicle speed is used for the analysis. The FTs brake
monitoring system provides for the values for the velocity at each time step.
Hence, the deceleration can be calculated based on the available reading.
The initial adhesion is given by

Accelerationdue
( i1 )Velocity ( i+1 ) )
meandeceleration
rate(Velocity

gravity (g)

Following the procedure mentioned under approach 1, the following plots are
obtained

It can be seen from the curve that the adhesion values are continuously varying
as a result of the continuous alteration between braking and release, which is
done through changing the pressure inside the brake cylinder which is based on
the slide values observed by the system. The oscillation are most prevalent in
the region of slide around 20% which is the maximum allowable value of slide
allowed by the system based on the control algorithm.
To further understand the trend, the curve was divided based on speed values
(time dependent)
Range 1: Speed > 100 Km/hr

Range 2: 100 km/hr< Speed < 60 Km/hr

In this range the WSP performance can be considered to be stabilised and the
sliding values can be considered as indicative of the adhesion value on the rail.
Range 3: Speed < 60 Km/hr

In this range it is seen that since the speed is low, a little variation in the
absolute slide (Vtrain-Vaxle) can cause great variability in the relative slide value (

(V trainV axle)
). Thus, we can see a great variability in the relative slide
Vtrain
independently of the adhesion level on the rail. Hence, this phase should not be
considered quantifiable in the evaluation of the adhesion level on the rail.

APPROACH 2
This approach is more suitable for simulation. I have tried to apply this on the
available trace but due to non-availability of required data in order to avoid overassumption in the calculation, the results which are generated cannot be trusted.
In addition, more literature survey is required so that the complex behaviour of
the adhesion coefficient can be modelled in a more accurate way.
This approach consists of the following steps.
1. Determination of the contact point. The determination of the contact point
requires the knowledge of kinematic variables of each wheel (position,
orientation, velocity and angular velocity)
2. Calculation of the contact area and the normal force (Hertz Method). This
requires track knowledge of the track geometry and wheel rail profiles.
3. Calculation of the tangential force and subsequent adhesion
Contact Point
Detection

Evaluation of
the contact
force

Solution of the
Tangential
Problem

Adhesion
coefficient

This approach is usually adopted during simulation. The models used should be
efficient and should not take a lot of memory for calculation.
Step 1: Identification of the contact point
Identification of the contact point cannot be calculated from the trace. The trace
cannot be used for this calculation.
Step 2: Solution of the normal contact problem
This step is based on the results of the previous step. Since, the determination of
the contact point is necessary to calculate the radius of curvature at the point of
contact.
The procedure involved in the calculation of this steps are:

Fig: Wheel-rail profile interactions

Wheel profile radius at the contact point (Rw):

360 mm

Rail profile radius at the contact point (R r):

Nominal radius of the wheel (r):

320 mm
460 mm

For conical wheel profile, the radius is:

Poisson coefficient:

0.3 (Dimensionless)

Youngs Modulus:

2.105 Mpa

The coefficient and the modulus is for steel and is same for both the rail and the
wheel.
Hertz Theory
Hertz experiments can be used to show that the contact area is in the form of an
ellipse in the case of a point contact between a wheel and a rail. Many authors
have also said that the contact can be circular. He proposed the following to
calculate the axes of the ellipse.
[INSERT FIGURE]
z= Ax2 + By2
R1x Radius of the wheel at the point of contact in the longitudinal direction.
R1y Radius of the wheel at the point of contact in the lateral direction.
R2x Radius of the rail at the point of contact in the longitudinal direction.
R2y Radius of the rail at the point of contact in the lateral direction.
Note - The radius at the contact point continuously changes as a result of the
change in contact location at each time step. In my program, I have considered a
constant radius for both the wheel and the rail at the contact point.
Also, the normal force at the contact point is directly considered to be the weight
of the train/4 acting on each axle.
The above two assumptions does not lead to good approximation of the contact
patch dimension as well as the Normal force acting at the contact point. (Also
note, that due to the complex nature of the third body, the normal force also
varies)

A=

Type equation here .

B=

Type equation here .

A+B =

Type equation here .

A-B = Type equation here .

=
cos

Now calculation for the axes can be performed

3. N .(1v 2)
a=m.
E .( A+ B)
3

3. N .(1v 2 )
b=n .
E .( A + B)
3

The hertz coefficient can be looked up in a table

o
m
n

90
1
1

MATLAB

80
1.128
0.893

70
1.284
0.802

60
1.486
0.717

50
1.754
0.641

40
2.136
0.567

30
2.731
0.439

20
3.778
0.408

10
6.612
0.319

curve fitting tool is used to provide a formulation for the above set

of data so that look up can be avoided.

Step 3:
Polach [] gave the following formulation to calculate the tangential creep force
acting at the point of contact which is based on the theory developed by Kalker
[].

Fx=

2. Q(t ) . (t ) (t )
(
+ arctan (t ))
2

1+ (t )

2 C . . a2 . b
s (t)
3 Q(t ). (t )

Q: Wheel Load
C: Proportionality coefficient characterising the contact shear stiffness is derived
from Kalkers Linear Theory []

C=

3. G . c11
E
; G=
8. a
1+ v

E: Youngs Modulus
c11 : This is looked up from a table provided by Kalker
a, b: Axes of the ellipse
s: slip velocity
The adhesion coefficient can be evaluated with the following formula

f x=

Tangential Force( F x )
Normal Force(N )

An improved to this model was further proposed by Polach wherein he provided

an expression for a friction coefficient decreasing with increasing slip velocity
between wheel and rail. This variability on friction coefficient has also been
observed by various authors.

= 0 [ (1A ) eB . + A]

where,

A=

= Friction coefficient at infinity slip velocity

B and 0 are coefficients which depend on the environmental condition

k
1+( A (t )) +arctan ( k s (t))
k A (t)

2. Q(t) . (t)
Fx=

Where ka is the reduction factor in the adhesion area, k s is the reduction factor in
the slip area, 0 is the maximum friction coefficient at zero slip velocity, is the
friction coefficient at infinity slip velocity.
In this approach, the effects of contact spin (spin moment caused by spin
creepage) and lateral creepage at the wheel-rail interface has not been
considered. Several authors have found them to be relatively small to be used
for comparison. However, the effect of spin creepage on the lateral contact force
cannot be considered to be negligible.