Experimental and numerical determination of the freight wagon buffers characteristics

Abstract

Draw-buff gear plays a significant role in the transmission and damping of longitudinal forces generated during accelerating and braking of trains. The role of the buffers is to protect the railway vehicles bearing structure, cargo and passengers from excessive longitudinal impacts. Especially when shunting freight wagons. For that reason, they have built-in elastic-damping elements that absorb shocks and partially convert kinetic energy into heat. This paper analyzes buffers with rubber-metal springs, which are the most often used in the freight cars nowadays. The static and dynamic force-stroke characteristics obtained by measurements on hydraulic press and during buffing impact tests are presented. These results are then compared with calculations using FEM analyses. The analyses included checking of the buffers ability to absorb a sufficient amount of energy that can be generated during wagon normal operation and in the case of exceptional shunting impacts.