Measured load spectra of rail vehicle car-bodies and their application as design loads

This paper describes a new method for the generation of design loads for car-bodies of railway vehicles. It bases on the traditional constant amplitude load cases of the established design codes, which will be combined to synthetic generated multiaxial load histories. The application of these multiaxial load histories on calculation models of railway car-bodies enables the fatigue strength assessment via cumulative damage approach. The required parameters for generation of the synthetic load histories depend on the different types of railway vehicles. For trams, regional trains and high-speed trains, a comprehensive analysis of measurement data was carried out. It results in suggestions for shapes of load spectra, for estimated number of load cycles for one design life and for maximal load amplitudes in the main load directions. These suggestions may be a base for further discussions in scientific and standardisation bodies for railway industry with the final goal to establish a modern fatigue strength assessment via cumulative damage approach in railway engineering instead of the old antiquated endurance limit approach.