Wheel/rail contact analysis of tramways and LRVs against derailment

Abstract Through the development of measurement tool of rail and wheel profiles, it is much easier to acquire the precision data of the profiles. Although most of the digital data are used independently for the purposes of rail or wheel profile management at present, such data make it possible to analyze the contact status especially to identify the location of the contact point between rail and wheel tread. The authors developed a simulation tool which can not only simulate the normal wheel/rail contact condition, but can also simulate the situations such as back-wheel flange contact in switching section and the critical contact condition of derailment phenomena. In this paper, the data processing method and the applications to the analysis of derailment process of LRV vehicles are introduced.