Keywords: wheel–rail contact, hunting oscillation, lateral wheel displacement, lateral force, roller rig, design.

This paper describes the design and initial testing of a lateral movement unit implemented on a single wheel roller rig. The unit was installed in the single wheel roller rig (swr) in use at the Institute for Railway Vehicles (ifs) at RWTH Aachen University. Wheelsets start to oscillate in lateral direction when operated, generally known as hunting oscillation. Because of the lateral movement, the wheels surface area in contact with the rail is exposed to changing mechanical stress situations during operation. While the typical hunting oscillation of a railway wheelset can be witnessed on a single axle roller rig, it cannot be observed on a single wheel roller rig. To simulate realistic conditions on a single wheel roller rig, the lateral movement must be artificially generated. This paper proposes a design to incorporate an oscillation mechanism into the existing swr at ifs considering existing boundary conditions. In addition, an extension for a wide range of wheel diameters in between 600 to 1000 mm is presented.

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