ABSTRACT
The measured lateral forces of the leading wheelset of a locomotive running through a switch are compared with simulation results of the program MEDYNA. The lateral forces of simulation and test show good agreement. Though the results gained with the substructure seem to meet the requirements for a simulation, the comparison of results other than the lateral forces in the area of the guiding rail with results gained with the improved wheel-rail interconnection element show a substantial difference. In the area of the guiding rail it is necessary to model the contact with the guiding rail and with the load-bearing rail at the same time. This is possible by describing the contact between wheel and rail in the normal direction not as a constraint but as being flexible, as done in the wheel-railinterconnection element.
The wheel-rail interconnection element can work in different modes. It can use a table which includes contact patch data, data for more than one contact point to the same rail and to another rail, or use online the undeformed profiles of wheels and rails without a precomputed table. The flexibility of the contact patch does not only enlarge the capabilities of the element but diminishes simulation time because of the smoothing effect to contact geometry data.
