ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OF THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF FREIGHT WAGON FALS

Abstract

A comparative analysis based on the results from strength-deformation analysis of wagon body, series Fals, and on the results from the real wagon test was made. Calculations were carried out in the Department of Railway Engineering at Technical University of Sofia and are based on the finite elements method. Two computational models of wagon design were developed. One of them consists of shell elements (triangular), and the second one of solid elements (tetrahedral). Experimental studies on real wagon were conducted at the National Transport Research Institute. It was found that the results obtained for the stresses are similar, which proves that the models are appropriate and they can help to solve a wide range of issues, for example those related to lightweight design of railway vehicles.