Designing the key parameters of EMU bogie to reduce side wear of rail

A long term investigation of the wheel and the rail wear condition reveals that wheel flange wear and rail gauge corner wear are serious problems for EMU vehicles and narrow curved tracks. In order to solve the problem, the effects of bogie key parameters on the vehicle dynamic behaviour were studied using an EMU vehicle dynamic model and the improved parallel inverse design method was employed to design a new wheel profile. The results show that under the condition of a high primary yaw stiffness, the yawing motion of the wheelset is limited, which leads to a high-angle of attack between wheel and rail on narrow curves. Then two-point contact between the wheel and the rail could occur and cause serious wheel flange wear and rail gauge corner wear. The new designed profile can reduce wheel flange wear and rail gauge corner wear, while meeting the safety requirement of vehicle running performance on tangent track. The primary yaw stiffness affects the curving negotiation performance significantly.