Design of an active steering system for a tramcar bogie by means of scale model experimental tests

When dealing with the tight curves typical of tramways, squeal noise and severe wear of both wheels and rails are topics of major concern, which affect tramcar curving performance. In order to enhance the curving behaviour of conventional tram running gears, the wheelset angle of attack should be remarkably decreased and this can be achieved by implementing a proper axle active steering system. To reduce times and costs associated with the development of such a complex system, numerical simulation and scale model experimentation shall be adopted. In this study, a multibody model is presented, which has been designed to accurately reproduce the dynamic behaviour of a tramcar vehicle. In order to demonstrate the reliability of the proposed multibody model, an experimental validation was carried out at the Chiba Experiment Station (Chiba, Japan) on a 1/10 scale model of a railway vehicle. The paper outlines the multibody model features and shows meaningful examples of the experimental validation, introducing the concept of an active steering tramcar bogie.