ABSTRACT
Wheel-rail interface is a very intensively discussed topic during the last decades. Numerous scientific works were devoted to investigations into this friction pair. Nowadays we can take benefit of powerful computational solutions able to boost calculations and reach deeper into the wheel-rail interface. Most attention was focused on railway aspect of the issue, as a subject of far-reaching system unification. On the other hand we have tram systems, which do not need to be interoperational. Moreover the characteristics of trams operation are different due to very narrow curves, shallow-grooved rail crossings, grooved rails, overall infrastructure condition, etc. This paper presents an attempt to design a tram new wheel profile, which is expected to be safer and more durable, on the way of evolutionary optimization algorithm. New profiles are generated on a basis of some boundary conditions and then are being assessed during a multibody simulation run on a track with measured geometry.
