Weight Reduction, Modal Analysis and Testing of an Indian Railway Light Weight Bogie Bolster

   Dr. Sanjay Shukla,  Umesh kumar,Satish Kumar,  ,Parinay Gupta,  Anirudh Kumar,  Sanjay Kumar

Bolster used for three piece freight bogie is the central section that carries the weight of a freight vehicle under frame. Presently Ministry of Railways is planning to introduce light weight freight bogie for high speed freight trains to enhance better pay to tare ratio, resulting in increased throughput as well as to shrink the track forces significantly. Present study deals with weight reduction of an Indian Railways low height bogie bolster simultaneously enhancing the axle load from 22.9 to 25.0 ton. The cast steel bolster is modeled according to drawings using NX- 7.5, UGS software. Structural analysis is performed to locate the critical zones and surfaces with the help of Finite Element Method (FEM) using MSC FEA software for weight reduction. Load cases and boundary conditions are applied as per International standards Association of American Railroad (AAR specification M-202) [1]. The weight of the bolster has been reduced to approximately 13.30% through multiple iterations to modify the initial design. Fatigue strength is considered for weight reduction of the bolster with the help of transient analysis using the dynamic loading conditions extracting from Multi Body Dynamics (MBD) software and these results are verified by using Goodman diagram. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors are obtained from modal analysis of the bolster to compare the mode shapes of the initial and modified design. Further based on modified design parameters a prototype has been developed by Indian Railways for actual test and trial. The test bogie is fitted with GONDOLA freight vehicle. Test trials of modified bogie have been successfully completed by Testing Directorate of Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) with open wagon in East Coast Railway [2]

Keywords- Bolster, Finite element, Low Height Bogie, Modal Analysis, Throughput, Three Piece, Weight Reduction

Unique Identification Number - IJEDR1502132
Page Number(s) - 737-747
Pubished in - Volume 3 | Issue 2 | May 2015
DOI (Digital Object Identifier) -   
Publisher - IJEDR (ISSN - 2321-9939)

   Dr. Sanjay Shukla,  Umesh kumar,Satish Kumar,  ,Parinay Gupta,  Anirudh Kumar,  Sanjay Kumar,   "Weight Reduction, Modal Analysis and Testing of an Indian Railway Light Weight Bogie Bolster ", International Journal of Engineering Development and Research (IJEDR), ISSN:2321-9939, Volume.3, Issue 2, pp.737-747, May 2015, Available at :http://www.ijedr.org/papers/IJEDR1502132.pdf