Wheel-rail bench

Scaled Wheel-Rail Test Bench

Contact: Hugues Chollet, Michel Sebes

Summary description and overview of the equipment’s main features
This roller bench is designed to replicate the physical phenomena at the wheel-rail interface and the dynamic behavior of bogies. The reduced scale facilitates handling, lowers costs, and enables risk-free experiments compared to the actual site. The mechanical similarity theory used is based on the reproduction of stresses, both at the contact point and within the structures. It results in a modification of the time scale by a factor of 1/4, similar to that of the geometry. Consequently, it requires a multiplication of the gravitational acceleration by a factor of 4, which is achieved through a system that applies an additional load.
Examples of notable results obtained using the equipment

• Measurement of lateral and longitudinal creep forces for railway wheels and rubber-coated wheels.
• Measurement of wheel-rail squeal.
• Measurement of wheel-rail contact behavior during derailment