HIPERWHEEL - development of an innovative high performance railway wheelset
Abstract
Within the scope of a European consortium comprising representatives from industrial and research fields as well as operators an innovative high performance wheelset was developed. At the Fraunhofer Institute LBF, data pertaining to design loads were generated and fundamental examinations for the assessment of contact fatigue in wheelset axles were performed in particular under operational load conditions. The design of a demonstrator was accompanied by experimental and theoretical stress analysis. After the production of a prototype of a hybrid wheelset, consisting of a high strength steel axle and forged aluminum wheel disc, the durability approval test, performed in multi-axial wheelset test rig, confirmed the feasibility of the method applied for the development of the wheelset. This allows the partially serious disadvantages of existing European standards to be overcome when introducing new wheelsets. The tested wheelset is approx. 25% lighter than the series wheelset and reduces the noise radiation by 6 db (A).
