Investigation of self-excited vibrations in tread brake unit for railway vehicles

Abstract

The appearance of self-excited vibrations caused by dry friction of two elements or their contact surfaces is common practice in nature and technique. The braking force that slows down the railway vehicles is associated with dry sliding friction between the brake pads and the wheels. This leads to occurrence of self-excited vibrations in tread brake unit or simply brake block. This paper explores the phenomenon of self-excited vibrations in the brake block of railway vehicles. In order to demonstrate the existence of self-excited vibrations, mathematical model is created in Matlab Simulink and the results are compared with experimental data recorded during braking of electric powered train series 412-416 equipped with tread brake unit. Experimental studies have been performed in laboratory and in real-time conditions with braking train. This paper proves the occurrence of self-excited vibrations, their form and intensity.