Politecnico di Milano

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Ground Vehicle Engineering
Bogie testing
A. Cosentino; F. Lomanto

Abstract

In this short paper we are going to describe the procedure of testing a bogie against fatigue. This
simple test consists in exciting the chassis in the vertical and lateral directions with alternating forces,
thanks to hydraulic pistons actuated by a hydraulic pump. The force that has to be reached in each
direction is defined, whereas it is unknown the displacement needed. Hence we will set the stroke
that occurs to apply the forces and the time needed to perform the entire test, given the volumetric
flow rate of the pump.

Introduction

k3

k4

kt2

In the first part we will solve the structure statically, in a way to relate the forces applied to the
chassis and the elastic reaction of springs in the
simplest possible way (dampers are neglected).

kt2

Then we will represent the exciting cycle in

terms of force to be applied and translate it into
displacement of the bogie.

k3

k4

Finally it is straightforward to compute the

stroke of the cylinders and the time needed to
run the test to the end.

Figure 1

k1

k2

kt1

Static representation of the system

Figure 2

The aim is to simplify the problem as much

as possible, hence only elastic reactions have
been introduced, neglecting damping forces.
Moreover for such an excitation, longitudinal

The system has been represented in the vertical and lateral plane trough the two following
schemes:
1

displacement is almost null, hence the corresponding springs can be considered perfectly
stiff.

Actually the primary suspension is a coil

spring with a vertical axis, whereas 2 more
springs in x and y directions are represented:
this is because modern bogies use to exploit
the same coil spring to provide elasticity even
in radial (shear) direction, thus eliminating any
other additional element. Radial stiffness is
clearly different than the axial one (similar to
a bending beam). The elastic element on the
right instead is a rubber joint, useful to improve
the isolation of the car from vibrations; its structure is finely engineered in a way to provide a
proper stiffness in different directions, thanks
to a distribution of inner voids with different
shape.

Figure 4

A table resuming springs behavior is provided here.

Figure 3

Figure 5

Application of the cycle

made of 100 repetitions in reality, and the frequency depends on the performance of the
pump.
Vertical direction is excited with two pistons on the two extremities of the bogie with
a phase-shift of half period, thus obtaining a
combination of heave and roll motion, while
only one piston provides lateral displacement,
resulting in a simple sway movement.
In the end the amplitude of the displacements is calculated multiplying the forces by
the linear constant found in the first part and
the results are shown, again qualitatively, in the
pictures below.

The system has been solved trough equilibrium

equations:
vertical direction
k1 z + k2 (z + l ) =
k1 z l + Kt1 +

Fz
2

Fz
l = 0
2

z = Kz Fz
lateral direction
k3 y k4 (y + l ) =

k3 z l + Kt2 +

Fy
2

Fy
l = 0
2

y = Ky Fy
where the Fz has been kept unitary, thus obtaining the overall linearity constant between z displacement and Fz force.
The exciting cycle in terms of forces to be
applied has the following shape:

Figure 8

Figure 6

Figure 9

Computation of running time

The last part consists in determining the duration of the test. the following parameters are
given:
Number of cycles: n = 6 106
Figure 7

actuator cylinders bore diameter: d =

200mm

The picture shows qualitatively a period

of the main cycle, since the two subcycles are

volumetric flow rate of the pump: Q =

500 hl
3

The stroke is determined by the maximum

elongation needed in each direction, and there
are 2 actuators for z direction and 1 for y direction, hence we have:

Finally the total volume of fluid needed for

completing one subcycle is given by one back
and forth run of each piston, hence:
Vtot,1 =

Sz = zmax zmin
Sy = ymax ymin

(1)

and the time needed for completing the test is:

As a matter of fact the elongation in z direction

is the same for both groups since the alternate
component of the force is equal for the two subcycles.

Medium force
Alternate force
Displacment max
Displacement min
Stroke
Total volume per cycle
Total time

d2
( Sy + 2 Sz )
4

t=

Vtot
Q

The results are reported in the table.

Cycle z a
Cycle zb
Cycle y
14850 N
12150 N
3400 N
2700 N
2700 N
-3400 N
-9.50 mm -8.04 mm 0.27 mm
-6.58 mm -5.12 mm 0.10 mm
2.93 mm 2.93 mm 0.17 mm
0.3782 l
6 months 8 days 20 hours

(2)