Fatigue Design of

Railway Vehicle Structures

Alois Starlinger
Stadler Rail,
Structural Analysis, Testing and Authorization,
Altenrhein, Switzerland

FEMFAT User Meeting - May 2013

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 Contents
• Introduction
• Requirements for the structural
assessment of railway vehicles:
– Car Bodies
– Bogies
• Acceptance program
• Structural analysis
• Laboratory Testing
• On Track Testing
• Conclusions

FEMFAT User Meeting - May 2013

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 Stadler‘s Sites in Europe
Stadler Rail Group:
• Fast growth over 20 years
• Turnover: 1,5 Billion CHF
• 4’700 employees

Stadler Altenrhein:
• Center of Structural
Development
• Structural Analysis of Car
Bodies and of Bogies
• Authorization
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 Introduction into Railway Vehicles :
• Small series business:
– From two to 100 vehicles per order
– Adjustments for each customer
– Time between contract signature and start of passenger service:
• 24 months (until now)
• 36 – 48 months if TSI requirements have to be met
•  Design release requirement: four months after contract signature
• Tight delivery schedule (with penalties for delay or for missing authorization)
– Usually no prototypes
• No excessive service testing before series production
• On track testing with first series vehicle  high commercial risk
Numerical analyses must capture structural behavior in detail
Numerical fatigue assessment must deliver reliable results
– Operational lifetime up to 40 years
• Typical costs per unit:
– City tram vehicle (5 wagons): 3 million Euros
– Regional train (four wagons): 5 million Euros
– High speed train (10 wagons): 15 million Euros

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 Acceptance Program for Car Bodies (EN 12663-1):
• Structural analysis:
– Static compressive loads: 1500 kN
– Fatigue loads:
• P-II: ax = 1,5 - 2,0 m/s2, ay = 1,5 m/s2, az = 1,5 m/s2
• Static testing
• Measurements on track followed by fatigue evaluation for
low floor tram vehicles

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 Acceptance Program for Bogies (EN 13749):
• Structural analysis
• Static testing
• Endurance test: 10 million load cycles
• Measurements on track followed by fatigue evaluation

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 Structural Analysis - Modeling:
• Finite element analyses of all structural components
• Finite element meshes have become extremely fine:
– Car body structures: 12 million degrees of freedom
up to 3 million elements
– Bogie frames: 400.000 elements
– Shell elements (70%) and Solid elements (30%): linear shape functions
– Local stress gradients have to be captured:
• Structural notches (sharp edges, corners, ...)
• Large stiffness changes, ...
– 50 single load cases for bogies & 50 combinations

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 Fatigue Assessment - Nominal Stress Approach:
• most common in railway design:
– simple, proven praxis
– based on section forces and moments  analytical method
– not appropriate for finite element modeling, since local geometry
effects are captured  corresponding stress peaks might be overrated
– Strength standards:
IIW recommendations, FKM guideline, DVS 1608, DVS 1612

Nominal stress
evaluation point

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 Evaluation of FE Results for Nominal Stress Concept
According to DVS 1608 Guideline
• Definition of evaluation point:
– Enables direct comparison of FE results with test data
– Evaluation point positioned into the center of the strain gauge
used in testing
– Analogy to ERRI B12 RP17:
• Butt weld: e = 5 (mm) + strain gauge length / 2
• T-type weld: e = 5 (mm) + strain gauge length / 2

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 Fatigue Assessment – Notch Stress Concept for Welds
• Based on IIW-Recommendation XIII-2240-08/XV-1289-08
• According to Seeger / Radaj: Radius r = 1 mm for all materials and
notch details
• Notch factors derived for normal stresses transverse to the weld
direction (starting from a sheet thickness of t ≥ 6 mm)
• Strength standards: IIW recommendations, FKM guideline, DVS 1608

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 Fatigue Analysis – Notch Stress Concept for Welds
• Weld seams identified in FE model by Visualizer
• Evaluation according to standard DVS 1608 guideline /
IIW recommendations
• Stadler database for notch factors of weld types typical for
railway design
• More exact method than nominal stress concept

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 Fatigue Analysis - Notch Stress Concept
• Automated fatigue stress assessment with FEMFAT
• Fatigue stress assessment  extrapolation to notch location
• Mesh strategy: integration point is located 5 mm away from
weld transition  comparison with test results (same location
as strain gauges)
• Results: utilization for all welds and all load combinations

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 FEMFAT Weld –Bogie Frame – Utilization:

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 Laboratory Testing of Bogie Frames (EN 13749):
• 10 - 28 hydraulic cylinders for fatigue testing
• 10 million load cycles - three phases 100%, 120% and 140%
Load run 100% loads complete
IMA-pr.no.: C041/08-1
Z04/Z05
Q4 Q3 100
Z09 Z08
Z03
75
Z16
Z13 Z12
Z02 50
SZ4 SZ3

25
Z07

SX2 load [kN] axle torsion [mm]

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

SX1 Z1 -25
Z14
Z06

-50
V1 (SZ1) SZ2

Z01
Z10 Z19 Z11 -75

-100
SY1 Z03a SY2

Q1/ Achs- Q2
verw indung
-125
load cycles

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 Laboratory Testing of Bogie Frames (EN 13749):
• Around 100 strain gauges channels
• Comparison with analytical results

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 Laboratory Testing of Bogies (EN 13749):
Testing of
Variobahn
bogie frame
at IMA,
Dresden:

• 10 million
load cycles

• Criterion:
no cracks

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 On Track Testing
• Requirement in EN 13749 for bogie frames
• German Guideline developed by DIN working group with clear definitions for
on track testing:
– Measurement length: at least 1/10000 of overall lifetime mileage
– Strain gauges per bogie frame type: 30 positions with highest degree of
utilization in numerical analysis
– Loading: 2/3 of maximum passenger load
– Rain flow counting and classification
– Damage accumulation according to Miner rule

• Stadler approach:
– Miner Elementar with„cut off“ at the
50% value of the fatigue strength
at 5 million load cycles of S-N-curve
– Allowable damage sum Dm = 1,0

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 On track testing - Stadler tram vehicles:
• Successful on-track testing of Stadler tram vehicles
• Measurements followed damage accumulation

Year Vehicle Length

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 On track testing:

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 Conclusions:
• The structural design of railway vehicles requires special
procedures:
– Small series
– Individual adjustments for each customer
– Short development time
– No prototypes
• Sophisticated methods for fatigue assessment are necessary:
– Notch stress concept
– Database with notch stress factors
– Successful application of FEMFAT
– Numerical results have been verified by laboratory testing and by on-
track-testing:
• Tram car bodies
• Bogie frames
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Thank you for your attention!