Dynamic stress analysis of a metro bogie due to wheel out-of-roundness based on multibody dynamics algorithm

In metro vehicle systems, the dynamic stress and vibration of the bogie frame have a significant impact on the safety and reliability of vehicles. This study presents a fracture failure analysis of the bogie frame for the metro vehicle. The analysis consists of a bogie frame dynamic stress test, a wheel out-of-roundness (OOR) measurement and a vibration transmissibility test of the vehicle which is also used for operational modal analysis of the bogie frame. The field test result shows that the bending of cross beam combined with torsion of side beams(49.5 Hz) which are aroused by the wheel OOR mainly contribute to the fatigue failure of the bogie frame. To investigate the effect of wheel OOR on the fatigue failure of the bogie frame, the multibody system (MBS) model of the metro vehicle was developed. The MBS model accounts for the flexibility of the bogie frame and the nonlinearity of wheel-rail contact. Furthermore, the modal stress recovery method was adopted to study the dynamic responses of the bogie frame. The measured wheel OOR data is used to validate the efficiency of the model and investigate the characteristics of dynamic stress in time histories as well as frequency spectra. Moreover, the dynamic stress of fracture site in the bogie frame with consideration of ideal polygonal wear in radial deviation including different orders and variable amplitudes was investigated. The phase shift of wheel OOR between different wheels proves to be influential in the bogie frame vibration and thus the characteristics of dynamic stress change accordingly. The recommended limit values of wheel OOR amplitude are shown based on numerical results.