Fatigue Design in Railway Vehicle Bogies Based on Dynamic Simulation

Fatigue is an important consideration in the design of railway vehicle bogies. Metro railway vehicles run under very severe operating conditions of tight curves and frequent acceleration and breaking. In this service environment dynamic loads can lead to the initiation of fatigue cracks at highly stressed areas and eventually cause failure of the hogic. The bogie fatigue life may be evaluated by combining a fatigue analysis with a dynamic simulation of the hogie frame. The aim of this integrated design procedure is to develop global solutions to fatigue problems from vehicle dynamics considerations, instead of using the classical approach to modify one component at a time. The analysis has shown that it is possible to use the proposed fatigue design procedure at an appropriate stage on the design of a vehicle.