Traction mechanics of rail vehicles

The course “Traction dynamics of rail vehicles” provides knowledge of the motion of means of transport, the forces causing this motion, and traction energy.
In contrast to general vehicle dynamics, vehicle motions about the transverse and vertical axes play only a minor role in this course; the focus of the analysis is clearly on motion along the route of travel.

Main Topics

Classification of a train run into characteristic operating phases and derivation of the corresponding force equilibria; representation of train runs using speed–distance diagrams
Vehicle resistance and its components
Track resistance and its components
Derivation of tractive-effort characteristics for different vehicles
Determination and evaluation of traction power; preparation of haulage (tractive load) charts
Introduction to energy demand and travel time calculation, taking energy-efficient driving strategies into account
Introduction to train-run simulation, including a computer-based practical session

Time / Location

Lecture dates and locations will be announced via OPAL.
Interested students can enroll in the courses “Train Dynamics / Rail Vehicles” (weekly lecture) or “Train Dynamics for Transportation Engineers” (biweekly lecture with reduced depth of content). The courses are linked at the end of this page.

Lecturer

Dipl.-Ing. Tobias Bregulla
The course is expected to be provisionally covered by the Chair of Electric Railways.

References

Martin Kache: Traction mechanics of rail vehicles (in German), Springer
Dietrich Wende: Traction mechanics of rail transport (in German), Springer
Helmut Lehmann: Train Run Dynamics (in German), Shaker Verlag

Links to the OPAL courses accompanying the lectures:

Updates and news are available in the OPAL course Guide to Rail Vehilce Technology