Keywords: testing, rail, derailment, sway, dynamics, strength, fatigue.

This paper deals with some of the tests, which are typical for rail vehicles and which are required by the European Standards: stationary tests of safety against derailment and sway characteristics (EN 14363 [1]), on-track tests of running behaviour (EN 14363 [1]) and strength tests (EN 12663-1 [2], EN 12663-2 [3], EN 13749 [4], EN 15227 [5], and EN 15551 [6]). For these kinds of tests, the special measuring tools that have been developed by the VÚKV Company are used.

For the testing the safety against derailment and sway characteristics the portable test rig is used. The portability of the test rig is one of the main advantages which also enables the testing of vehicles outside the VÚKV testing facility. The test rig generally consists of devices of two kinds: a twist test rig and yaw test rig. The test rig simulates twisted or canted track, rotates the bogie relative to the carbody and continuously measures all the required quantities. The test rig is capable of testing a single vehicle or articulated vehicles with a total number of wheelsets up to ten and of a gauge in a range 750 mm to 1676 mm. The test rig is described in more detail in Reference [7].

For measuring wheel forces and guiding forces during the on-track tests of the running behaviour, the new system of an instrumented wheelset has been developed. The principle of the wheelset is based on the measurement of the deformation of the wheel disc. The deformations are measured by strain gauges that are located on a surface of a wheel disc. The strain gauges are located only on one side of the wheel, therefore no machining of the wheelset has to be made. After the measurement the wheelset can be put back into a normal operation. The newly developed instrumented wheelset system has been tested for a range of running speeds up to 230 km/h and an axle-load up to 25 t.

The strength tests performed by VÚKV are the following: static strength tests, buffing tests, on track tests and crash tests. For the static tests a special tests rig is used. It enables testing of car body structures of a total length up to 45 m. Both longitudinal and vertical loads are applied on the test structure with the help of a complex system of hydraulic cylinders. For performing on-track strength tests, a special compact measuring system is used. The system enables measurements to be taken under operating conditions very efficiently.

1

EN 14363:2005, "Railway applications - Testing for the acceptance of running characteristics of railway vehicles - Testing of running behaviour and stationary tests".

2

EN 12663-1:2010, "Railway applications - Structural requirements of railway vehicle bodies - Part 1: Locomotives and passenger rolling stock (and alternative method for freight wagons)".

3

EN 12663-2:2010, "Railway applications - Structural requirements of railway vehicle bodies - Part 2: Freight wagons".

4

EN 13749:2011, "Railway applications - Wheelsets and bogies - Method of specifying the structural requirements of bogie frames".

5

EN 15227:2008+A1:2011, "Railway applications - Crashworthiness requirements for railway vehicle bodies".

6

EN 15551:2009+A1:2010, "Railway applications - Railway rolling stock - Buffers".

7

J. Capek, T. Heptner, Z. Mourecek, T. Získal, "Testing of Safety against Derailment and Sway Characteristics", in I. Zobory (Editor), "Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Railway Bogies and Running Gears", Department of Railway Vehicles at the BUTE, Budapest, Hungary, 447-454, 2009.

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