The present paper gives an overview about the requirements on the design of wheel profiles of tramway systems. Whilst due to standardization railway wheel profiles differ just slightly from each other, nearly every tramway operator uses his individual wheel profile for his vehicles. Due to different designs of turnouts and crossings of tramway systems in grooved and flat grooved rails, tramway profiles differ significantly in shape from railway profiles. In case of tram-train operations the different, usually competing, requirements must be merged. Then compromises for the wheel profiles are to be developed which consider the specific operational constraints. Regulations originating from railways are dominant due to their wider scope of application. The design of the profiles has to start by considering the geometrical requirements of the flange, followed by the determination of the tread. In the tread, single point contact conditions with continuous lateral displacement of the contact patch are to be achieved. This has to consider that equivalent conicity, which is relevant for bogies with rigid axle wheel-sets only, remains restricted to values below 0.3. In parallel the profile combination must provide minimum contact stresses in order to reduce wear and fatigue. All profile development is to be verified by means of operational tests, which prove braking capabilities, smooth negotiation of curves and stable lateral behavior. In long term testing the shape of the profiles shall remain stable in order to reduce maintenance efforts.
Optimization of wheel profiles of LRV systems for tram and tram-train operations
Optimierung von Radreifenprofilen für Straßenbahnen und Stadtbahnen.
2010
11 Seiten, 10 Bilder, 1 Tabelle, 9 Quellen
Conference paper
English
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