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Geometric self-centering and force self-balancing of railroad-vehicle hunting oscillations

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Abstract

In railroad vehicle dynamics, the centrifugal inertia forces, often associated with curved tracks, are balanced by the lateral component of the gravity force by limiting the vehicle operation speed to the balance speed. This is achieved by the super-elevation of the track by the bank angle. When a vehicle negotiates a tangent (straight) track, on the other hand, the center of mass of the vehicle, as the result of the wheel conicity and hunting oscillations, traces a space curve, giving rise to an inertia force that has a centrifugal force component. Because of the vehicle roll rotation, such a centrifugal inertia force is balanced by a gravity-force component without the need for super-elevating the track. This paper shows that the geometric self-centering due to the wheel conicity is the result of a force self-balancing that contributes to safe operation of the rail vehicle during the hunting oscillations on tangent tracks.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (Project # 1632302).

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Correspondence to Ahmed A. Shabana.

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Shabana, A.A. Geometric self-centering and force self-balancing of railroad-vehicle hunting oscillations. Acta Mech 232, 3323–3329 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-021-02983-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00707-021-02983-w

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