Publication

Abstract : Mathematical modeling of railway vehicles is essential for the analysis of safety and ride comfort for faster and comfortable journey. One major part of this model is the dynamics of the system, which primarily consists of rail-wheel interaction and the multibody dynamics of the carbody or wagon, which again are tightly coupled. Various researchers have developed mathematical models to represent these concepts, some of which have matured into simulation software, dedicated for railway dynamics. There are also similar software developed by commercial organizations. However, for a researcher who is about to get into railway dynamics, the learning curve is steep and hence requires attention. For example, ability to visualize one’s kinematic and dynamic formulation of the mathematical model will help him/her to validate the formulations and also provide insights for improvements. This could be in the form of animation of the wheels on rails or the motion of the carbody, modeled as complicated spring-mass-damper system, subjected to various forces and moments. Through this paper, an attempt is made to develop an addin/plugin inside Autodesk Inventor to implement formulations for effective visualization in a 3D CAD software, so that the researcher has better insights.