DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF ORE WAGONS IN CURVES AT MALMBANAN

The transportation of ore can be made more cost efficient by use of bi gger and heavier trains. An increase in axle load is thereby wanted. T he fleet of ore wagons of today at Malmbanan/Ofotbanan in northern Swe den and Norway has to be updated. It is of interest to find out if it is possible to allow a higher axle load on the track with new wagons. To be able to understand and predict the effects on track wear dependi ng on what type of vehicle that is in use, the contact forces between wheels and rails have to be determined. A computer aided analysis has been made of the dynamic behaviour of three test vehicles equipped wit h different types of three-piece bogies running at Malmbanan. The vehi cles are modelled and their interaction with the track is analysed usi ng the multibody simulation package GENSYS. The simulations show that, even if the axle load is increased from 25 tons to 30 tons and the ve locity is increased from 50 km/h to 60 km/h, it is possible to reduce lateral track forces and wear in curves by using a different bogie tha n the standard three-piece bogie used today.