Safety analysis of high speed trains under cross winds using indirect wheel-rail force measuring method

For several years the China railway has been investigating the safety risk of passenger cars subjected to cross winds in the LX railway lines. In this paper, an indirect method for wheel-rail force measurement is proposed. By analyzing the forces exerted on the wheelset, the wheel axle lateral force and wheel-rail vertical forces can be derived from the suspension forces and inertia forces. Since it is difficult to separate the wheel-rail lateral forces at two sides of the wheelset, the union safety domain based on the wheelset derailment coefficient and wheel unloading ratio is applied to assess the running safety of the train. The field test of a high speed train travelling in the wind area of the LX high speed railway line was carried out. The identified wheel-rail forces based on the indirect method were compared with that of the instrumented wheelset. The measured wheel-rail forces are analysed to evaluate the running safety of train under cross winds. The derailment evaluation based on union safety domain is compared with the traditional criterion. This indirect method is finally applied to the long-term safety monitoring of high speed trains in operations.