Rob Caldwell
NRC - Canada

The Vehicle-Track Interaction and Dynamics presentation will describe how a free wheelset steers and hunts as a result of conicity, the influence of the truck on these two behaviours, and what wheel/rail forces are acting in the contact patch during curving. We’ll move into wheel and rail profile design and how the profiles influence steering, damage and wear, and how to manage the wheel/rail interaction when your profile shapes are always changing as a result of wear and plastic flow. We’ll finish up with a couple of examples of how poorly controlled wheel/rail interaction can lead to derailment.