Analytical Identification of Critical Section of Axle of Freight Wagon

Abstract

The paper deals with the analytical identification of the critical section of the axle of a freight wagon. The procedure for calculating the strength of railway axles in accordance with the European standard EN 13103 is shown. Based on this, a method for identifying the critical section of the axle was presented. The goal is to find the section or zone with the lowest dynamic safety factor. The proposed method was applied to a specific example of standard axle of freight wagon for an axle load of 22.5 tons. The obtained results have shown that the critical section is located in the zone of transition radius between the wheel-seat and the middle part of the axle. The obtained analytical results were verified by FEM calculation in the ANSYS software package. The results of the research presented in the paper may be interesting and should be considered for future design, optimization and standardization of axles of freight wagons.