Multibody Simulation of Urban Rail Vehicle Dynamics for Assessment of Curved Tracks

The wide spreading of new technical solutions for light rail vehicles (e.g. modular architectures, independent wheels and articulated bogie frames) leads to the need for a dedicated tool for the analyses of the related technical issues, such as running safety, wheels and rails wear, maintenance, radiated vibration and noise. In the last ten years, Politecnico di Milano has developed a multibody model designed for reproducing the dynamic behaviour of articulated urban rail vehicles. In this paper, after a brief description of the multibody model and of its main features, some meaningful results are reported, in order to point out the capabilities of the developed model for the analysis of vehicle running safety on curved track. In particular, two different vehicles are considered and their running safety is analysed with reference to the response to track geometrical defects and to roll-over risk.