Railway wagon dynamics subjected to wind, in-train forces and track geometry defects

A running railway wagon can be subjected to forces from in-train dynamics, wind, track curving, and track geometry irregularities and defects at the same time. However, there is no standard that sets appropriate dynamics criteria under a combination of these loads. This paper takes into account longitudinal train dynamics, lateral coupler forces, wagon dynamics, and the effects of track irregularities/defects to study railway wagon dynamics to determine acceptable operational conditions. A case study has been presented and the results show that the safe wind speed limit is 20 m/s for the simulated wagon running on a section of FRA class 5 track with a combination of track geometry defects and in-train forces.