Validation of simulation models in the context of railway vehicle acceptance

The evaluation of a reliable validation method, criteria and limit values suitable for model validation in the context of vehicle acceptance was one of the objectives of the DynoTRAIN project. The presented investigations represent a unique amount of testing, simulations, comparisons with measurements, and validation evaluations. The on-track measurements performed in four European countries included several different vehicles on a test train equipped to simultaneously record track irregularities and rail profiles. The simulations were performed using vehicle models built with the use of different simulation tools by different partners. The comparisons between simulation and measurement results were conducted for over 1000 simulations using a set of the same test sections for all vehicle models. The results were assessed by three different validation approaches: comparing values according to EN 14363; by subjective engineering judgement by project partners; and using so-called validation metrics, i.e. computable measures developed with the aim of increasing objectivity while still maintaining the level of agreement with engineering judgement. The proposed validation method uses the values computed by analogy with EN 14363 and provides validation limits that can be applied to a set of deviations between simulation and measurement values.