Medium frequency dynamic investigation of the railway wheelset-track system using a discrete-continuous model

In the paper, dynamic interaction between elastic high-speed-train car wheelset and track is studied using a discrete-continuous mechanical model. The model enables to investigate the influence of the parametric excitation from the track as well as static and dynamic unbalances of wheels and brake disks on the dynamic response of the wheelset running at various speeds on the track of various average vertical stiffness. From the results of numerical simulation it follows that particularly severe periodic resonances occur for the track of large stiffness, yielding high vertical dynamic contact forces between the wheels and rails. The maximum dynamic response has been obtained for parameters corresponding to the conditions at which the phenomenon of grumbling noise generation is usually observed in reality.