Simulation software Rail Vehicle Dynamics Simulation

safetydesignengineering

Rail vehicles are complex systems and their performance is determined by the interaction of multiple components, including the rail-wheel-contact interface, suspension, bogies, couplings and other moving parts. Optimizing and understanding these interactions is essential to ensuring vehicle safety, speed, reliability and comfort. The complexity and sheer length of trains makes simulating their running dynamics a challenging engineering problem to solve. Engineers must account for all possible relative motions between the individual components. Multibody System Simulation (MBS) is the only technology making it possible to analyze and understand the complete system dynamics, without requiring a physical prototype. MBS enables engineers to build up a virtual prototype, allowing virtual testing early in the development cycle. A thorough exploration of the design space can be conducted, considering numerous KPIs, to find the optimum design between competing alternatives, faster and cheaper than physical tests. The value of MBS continues into the service life of the vehicle, through (but not limited to) simulation-aided maintenance, accident investigations, and warranty/misuse case investigation. The wheel-rail contact is the most influential characteristic on the overall dynamic behavior of a rail vehicle. This contact plays a role in almost all the high-level challenges of the railway industry including: Safety and reliability of operation: vehicle derailment stability on the tracks. Passenger comfort: Track irregularities excite the vehicle through the contact interface.