A Method to Predict the Heat Generation in a Rubber Spring Used in the Railway Industry

Abstract An integrated real-time simulation and experimental programme has been carried out on an anti-vibration part used in the railway industry. This work, which was done at the authors' Technical Centre, was designed to ensure that any temperature rise inside an anti-vibration part does not exceed the design requirement in accelerated fatigue tests. Real-time simulation and testing have the advantages of giving the maximum temperature change when an anti-vibration component reaches a steady state and the time duration for each stage of the whole process. It is found from both testing and simulation that the energy loss per cycle of the rubber spring, under fixed dynamic amplitude, does not depend on the loading frequency. Therefore, the energy loss per cycle can be more easily obtained using a conventional quasi-static loading procedure, to reduce the cost and the time, than from conducting more complicated dynamic tests. Key rubber parameters obtained from the authors' material testing laboratory are presented here as important references for similar applications in railway industries. It is shown that this methodology is reliable and can be used to evaluate the temperature effects caused by dynamic loading.