MULTI‐PHYSICAL MODELLING AND PROTOTYPING OF AN ENERGY HARVESTING SYSTEM INTEGRATED IN A RAILWAY PNEUMATIC SUSPENSION

The aim of this PhD thesis is the investigation of an energy harvesting system to be integrated in a railway pneumatic spring to recovery otherwise wasted energy source from suspension vibration. Exploiting the piezoelectric effect to convert the mechanical energy into an electrical one, the final scope consists on the use of this system to power supply one or more sensors that can give useful information for the monitoring and the diagnostics of vehicle or its subsystems. Starting from the analysis of the energy sources, a multi‐physical approach to the study of an energy harvesting system is proposed to take into account all physics involved in the phenomenon, to make the most of the otherwise wasted energy and to develop a suitable and affordable tool for the design. The project of the energy harvesting device embedded in a railway pneumatic spring has been carried out by means of using a finite element technique and multi‐physics modelling activity. The possibility to combine two energy extraction processes was investigated with the purpose of making the most of the characteristics of the system and maximize the energy recovering. Exploiting commercial piezoelectric transducers, an experimental activity was conducted in two steps. A first mock‐up was built and tested on a shaker to develop the device and to tune the numerical model against experimental evidence. In the second step a fullscale prototype of an air spring for metro application with the EH system was realized. In order to test the full‐scale component, the design of a new test bench was carried out. Finally, the Air spring integrated with the EH device was tested and models validated

Development of a new downscale setup for wheel-rail contact experiments under impact loading conditions

A new downscale test rig is developed for investigating the contact between the wheel and rail under impact-like loading conditions. This paper presents the development process of the setup, including review and synthesis of the potential experimental techniques, followed by scalability, mechanical and operational analysis of the new setup. The new test rig intends to remedy the lack of dynamic similarity between the actual railway and the existing laboratory testing capability, by taking into account the factors that contribute to high-frequency dynamics of the wheel-track system. The paper first reviews the functionalities of the existing test techniques in the literature. Based on this survey, the category of the scaled wheel on the rail track ring is chosen. Afterwards, three potential alternatives are identified under the chosen category and the optimum mechanism is achieved through finite element modelling and analysis of the structures. A downscale test rig, consisting of multiple wheel components running over a horizontal rail track ring, effectively fulfilled the requirements needed for analogical testing of the wheel-rail contact behaviour. The new test rig is a unique experimental setup due to the involvement of high-frequency dynamic vibrations in the wheel-track system and analogy of the incorporated elements and loading to those of the real-life system. This paper further presents the results of some real experiments carried out using the newly-built setup to support substantial ideas behind its development

Infrastructure Design, Signalling and Security in Railway

Railway transportation has become one of the main technological advances of our society. Since the first railway used to carry coal from a mine in Shropshire (England, 1600), a lot of efforts have been made to improve this transportation concept. One of its milestones was the invention and development of the steam locomotive, but commercial rail travels became practical two hundred years later. From these first attempts, railway infrastructures, signalling and security have evolved and become more complex than those performed in its earlier stages. This book will provide readers a comprehensive technical guide, covering these topics and presenting a brief overview of selected railway systems in the world. The objective of the book is to serve as a valuable reference for students, educators, scientists, faculty members, researchers, and engineers

Advances Techniques for Time-Domain Modelling of High-Frequency Train/Track Interaction

[EN] The aim of the present Thesis is to develop models for the study of very high-frequency phenomena associated with the coupling dynamics of a railway vehicle with the track. Through these models, this Thesis intends to address squeal noise as a particular case of rolling noise when the train negotiates a small radius curve. Wheel/rail interaction is the predominant source of noise emission in railway operations. Rolling contact couples the wheel and the rail through a very small area, characterised by strongly non-linear and non-steady state dynamics that differentiates rolling noise from any other noise problem. Wheel/rail contact problem is studied based on Kalker's variational theory and the local falling behaviour of the coefficient of friction is introduced by means of a regularisation of Coulomb's law. Its implementation shows that the influence of the falling friction on the creep curves can be assumed negligible, thus rolling contact is finally modelled using a constant coefficient of friction. Flexibility is introduced in railway substructures through the Finite Element (FE) method in order to cover the high-frequency range. This work adopts a rotatory wheelset model that takes computational advantage of its rotational symmetry. It also develops a cyclic flexible rail model that fixes the translational contact force in a spatial point of the mesh through a technique called Moving Element (ME) method. A modal approach is used to reduce significantly the number of degrees of freedom of the global problem and a diagonalisation technique permits to decouple the resulting modal equations of motion in order to increase the computational velocity of the time integrator. Simulations in curving conditions in the time domain are carried out for constant friction conditions in order to study if the proposed interaction model can reproduce squeal characteristics for different curve radii and coefficients of friction.[ES] El objetivo de la presente Tesis es desarrollar modelos para el estudio de fenómenos de muy alta frecuencia asociados a la dinámica acoplada de un vehículo ferroviario con la vía. A través de estos modelos, esta Tesis pretende abordar el fenómeno de los chirridos como un caso particular de ruido de rodadura en condiciones de curva cerrada. La interacción rueda/carril es la fuente predominante de ruido en las operaciones ferroviarias. El contacto es el responsable del acoplamiento entre la rueda y el carril a través de un área muy pequeña caracterizada por una dinámica fuertemente no lineal y no estacionaria. El problema de contacto rueda/carril se estudia mediante la teoría variacional de Kalker y la caída local del coeficiente de fricción se introduce por medio de una regularización de la ley de Coulomb, que muestra que su influencia sobre las curvas de fluencia se puede despreciar. Como consecuencia, el coeficiente de fricción se considera constante. La flexibilidad se introduce en las subestructuras ferroviarias a través del método de los Elementos Finitos (EF) para cubrir el rango de las altas frecuencias. La Tesis adopta un modelo de eje montado rotatorio que toma ventaja computacional de su simetría rotacional. También desarrolla un modelo de carril flexible y cíclico que fija la fuerza de contacto en un punto espacial de la malla mediante el método de los Elementos Móviles (EM). Se utiliza un enfoque modal para reducir significativamente el número de grados de libertad del problema global; las ecuaciones de movimiento resultantes en coordenadas modales se desacoplan mendiante una técnica de diagonalización para aumentar la velocidad computacional del integrador temporal. Las simulaciones en condiciones de curva en el dominio del tiempo se llevan a cabo en condiciones de fricción constante con el objetivo de estudiar si el modelo de interacción propuesto puede reproducir las características del chirrido en curva para diferentes radios de curva y coeficientes de fricción.[CAT] L'objectiu de la present Tesi és desenvolupar models per a l'estudi de fenòmens de molt alta freqüència associats amb la dinàmica acoblada d'un vehicle ferroviari amb la via. Aquests models permeten simular el soroll de rodament encara que, en particular, aquest treball es proposa abordar el fenomen del soroll grinyolant produït quan el tren negocia un radi de curvatura estret. La interacció roda/carril és la font predominant de l'emissió de soroll en les operacions ferroviàries. El contacte acobla la roda i el carril a través d'una àrea molt reduïda que es caracteritza per una dinàmica fortament no lineal i no estacionària. El problema de contacte roda/carril s'estudia mitjançant la teoria variacional de Kalker i el descens local del coeficient de fricció s'introdueix per mitjà d'una regularització de la llei de Coulomb, què demostra que la seua influència en les corbes de fluència es pot suposar insignificant. Per tant, s'utilitza un coeficient de fricció constant per a modelar el contacte. La flexibilitat s'introdueix en les subestructures de ferrocarril a través del mètode d'Elements Finits (EF) per tal de cobrir el rang d'alta freqüència. La present tesi adopta un model d'eix muntat rotatori que s'aprofita de la seua la simetria rotacional per a augmentar la eficiència computacional. També desenvolupa un model de carril flexible i cíclic que fixa la força de contacte en un punt espacial de la malla a través del mètode dels Elements Mòbils (EM). S'empra un enfocament modal per reduir significativament el nombre de graus de llibertat del problema global, al temps que s'implementa una tècnica diagonalització que permet desacoblar les equacions modals de moviment per a augmentar la velocitat computacional de l'integrador temporal. Les simulacions en les condicions de corba en el domini del temps es duen a terme per a condicions de fricció constant per tal d'estudiar si el model d'interacció proposat pot reproduir les característiques del soroll grinyolant per a diferents radis de corba i coeficients de fricció.Giner Navarro, J. (2017). Advances Techniques for Time-Domain Modelling of High-Frequency Train/Track Interaction [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/90637TESI

De-Centralized and Centralized Control for Realistic EMS Maglev Systems

A comparative study of de-centralized and centralized controllers when used with real EMS Maglev Systems is introduced. This comparison is divided into two parts. Part I is concerned with numerical simulation and experimental testing on a two ton six-magnet EMS Maglev vehicle. Levitation and lateral control with these controllers individually and when including flux feedback control in combination with these controllers to enhance stability are introduced. The centralized controller is better than the de-centralized one when the system is exposed to a lateral disturbing force such as wind gusts. The flux feedback control when combined with de-centralized or centralized controllers does improve the stability and is more resistant and robust with respect to the air gap variations. Part II is concerned with the study of Maglev vehicle-girder dynamic interaction system and the comparison between these two controllers on this typical system based on performance and ride quality achieved. Numerical simulations of the ODU EMS Maglev vehicle interacting with girder are conducted with these two different controllers. The de-centralized and centralized control for EMS Maglev systems that interact with a flexible girder provides similar ride quality

Semi-active control for independently rotating wheelset in railway vehicles with MR dampers

This thesis presents details of an investigation of a controller for MR damper in the implementation of semi-active control, for primary suspensions of the independently rotating railway vehicles. This research focuses on using MR damper and it addresses on three main aspects when designing semi-active control systems for this application.One aspect is magnetorheological dampers categorised as a controllable fluid damper which can reversibly change from a flowing viscose fluid to semi-solid viscose fluid. The second aspect is the controllable yield strength can change in a millisecond by inducing an electric or magnetic field. Third aspect is MR damper is cheaper than actuators which are usually use in full active controllerThis research is a combination of a lookup table based on the inverse MR damper model to control the current input (to the MR damper) from required force and relative velocity of the device. The MR damper produces the desired force as precisely as possible. However, it is not possible to have precise knowledge of MR parameters and it is also difficult to account for the hysteresis present in MR dampers in the lookup table. Therefore, an additional local PI feedback controller is also used to improve the robustness for the MR control.As the main result, this study provides a comparison between semi-active controller with the use of MR damper and a full active controller system. The results show semi-active controller with the use of MR damper performed as good as full active controller. However semi-active control systems with MR dampers offer an overall efficiency and robustness when compared to the full active control system. Also, this system delivers comparable performance with the benefit of increased reliability and lower cost.In order to assess the developed system comprehensively, a two–axle vehicle model and a full bogie vehicle model are both evaluated individually in the study.The performance and robustness assessments of the developed semi-active controller with the full active control system are evaluated with the use of both two–axle vehicle model and the full bogie vehicle model with different operational track features such as curved track and straight track with lateral irregularities with various travel speeds.This study designed and developed a semi-active control systems with use of MR damper in primary suspension for independent rotation wheelsets in railway vehicles. Computer simulation results verified the suggested semi-active control is able to provide required stability and guidance control for independently- rotating wheelsets. Also, the result performed as well as full active control with the advantage of utilizing a lower cost device for semi-active control rather than an expensive actuator for full active control

Proceedings of the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015

This volume contains the full papers accepted for presentation at the ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics 2015 held in the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, on June 29 - July 2, 2015. The ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Multibody Dynamics is an international meeting held once every two years in a European country. Continuing the very successful series of past conferences that have been organized in Lisbon (2003), Madrid (2005), Milan (2007), Warsaw (2009), Brussels (2011) and Zagreb (2013); this edition will once again serve as a meeting point for the international researchers, scientists and experts from academia, research laboratories and industry working in the area of multibody dynamics. Applications are related to many fields of contemporary engineering, such as vehicle and railway systems, aeronautical and space vehicles, robotic manipulators, mechatronic and autonomous systems, smart structures, biomechanical systems and nanotechnologies. The topics of the conference include, but are not restricted to: ● Formulations and Numerical Methods ● Efficient Methods and Real-Time Applications ● Flexible Multibody Dynamics ● Contact Dynamics and Constraints ● Multiphysics and Coupled Problems ● Control and Optimization ● Software Development and Computer Technology ● Aerospace and Maritime Applications ● Biomechanics ● Railroad Vehicle Dynamics ● Road Vehicle Dynamics ● Robotics ● Benchmark ProblemsPostprint (published version

30th International Conference on Condition Monitoring and Diagnostic Engineering Management (COMADEM 2017)

Proceedings of COMADEM 201

33rd Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium

The proceedings of the 33rd Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium are reported. JPL hosted the conference, which was held at the Pasadena Conference and Exhibition Center, Pasadena, California, on May 19-21, 1999. Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space cosponsored the symposium. Technology areas covered include bearings and tribology; pointing, solar array and deployment mechanisms; orbiter/space station; and other mechanisms for spacecraft