Study of strength characteristics of the long wheelbase flat cars

Abstract

Transportation of goods in large containers with loading length of 80 feet is one of the promising directions of railway transport development. However, despite considerable experience in construction of long-wheelbase flat cars, occasionally problems with the strength of load-bearing elements arise at the calculation, design and manufacture of such products. The article presents the technical characteristics of a long wheelbase flat car, as well as the results of experimental studies of fatigue tests of its load-bearing elements. The optimization of the design of the long wheelbase flat car was achieved both by increasing the sizes and shapes, and by using materials of increased strength. An analysis of the study’s results of an improved design showed the compliance of the values of the safety factor of fatigue strength and the service life of the flat car with regulatory and technical documentation. The conducted studies allow us to make recommendations regarding the design, rebuilding and testing of long wheelbase flat cars. The primary results of fatigue tests of the main load-bearing structural elements within the scope of experimental studies turned out to be mostly below acceptable values. This article contains facts confirming it. The results of experimental studies to determine the fatigue strength proved that the design elements require improvement and strengthening.

Determining patterns in loading the body of a gondola with side wall cladding made from corrugated sheets under operating modes

“…The National Transport Strategy until 2030 identifies the development of rolling stock as one of the most important areas of development of railroads in Ukraine. Ensuring the competitiveness of the railroad industry necessitates the commissioning of modern rolling stock structures with improved technical, economic, and operational indicators [1,2]. In addition, the design of such rolling stock should provide the ability to reduce the cost of its maintenance.…”

Aspects of Strength Testing of Tank Containers in Compliance with the Requirements of the UN Navigation Rules and Regulations

“…In the papers [11,12], the main ways of increasing the degree of ideality of freight wagons and the development of the running gear of the new generation cars, taking into account the dynamic loads that affect these wagons and their running gears during operation, are determined. In the papers [13,14], the results of dynamic load simulation of containers and the study of their stability, placed on flat cars during railway ferry transportation, are presented.…”

“…Thus, according to the results of the literature source analysis [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], it can be concluded that the issues of determining the dynamic load of tank containers during transportation on a rail ferry have not been fully studied so far. At the same time, the determination of the dynamic load of tank containers as part of mixed trains with tank cars during the formation of a traction connection before loading onto a railway ferry and during shunting operations (roll on/roll off) on the lower and upper decks of a railway ferry was not investigated in these works, though it is one of the main stages of the tank container testing.…”