1.0 D.K. Agarwal ED/Carriage FUNCTIONS & ROLE Carriage directorate of RDSO is actively engaged in the development of new designs/specifications and upgradation/standardization of the existing designs/ specifications of passenger coaches and its sub-systems. The main activities of the Carriage directorate are: - a) Develop key drawings and specifications of new designs of coaching stock. b) Validation of design by tests and trials along with Production Units and Testing Directorate of RDSO. ¢) Co-ordination with PUs and user railways in the area of failure investigation, design modification etc. d) Standardization of design between RDSO and PUs. ) Development of new advanced materials for coach interiors. f) Formulation of maintenance instructions of major sub-assemblies like air brake system, roller bearings and couplers etc. g) Statutory clearance for operation of new rolling stock. h) Vendor development of safety items. i) Optimization of suspension parameters for all types of rolling stock using vehicle dynamics simulation software, NUCARS and ADAMS RAIL. i) The computer wing undertakes high end design activities like finite element analysis, vehicle dynamics simulation, crash analysis etc. k)_ Enhancing fire safety of trains, 2.0 INFRASTRUCTURE & CAPABILITIES Important Laboratories: - CAD Centre a. Auto CAD for 2-D drawings, (17)b. Uni-Graphics software (UGS NX 5.0) for 3-D modelling, c. NX FDEAS & NX NASTRAN software's for Finite Element Analysis to make optimum design of coach components. + Fire Simulation Facility Centre a. Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software, b. Fpetools, Ozone, CFAST software For Computer aided simulation on the coaches under varying operating and coach design & layout conditions to assess the behavior of the spread of fire movement of smoke and toxic gases and heat. The proposed fire simulation software will help in optimization of design and layout of the coaches, selection of the combination of the material and devising the evacuation strategies in case of fire. * Crashworthy Coach Design [7 Centre: The centre is equipped with high power compute cluster, workstations and instrumentation equipments for the testing. The crash worthiness design involves making finite element computer model of the coach, doing crash simulation on the computer, making a full scale prototype and carrying out its crash testing. * Vehicle Dynamics Simulation Software Centre: The Vehicle dynamics group of Carriage Directorate has been using vehicle dynamics analysis software namely ‘ADAMS/Rail and NUCARS for studying the dynamic behaviour of new/modified design of different types of Indian Railway stock viz. Coaches & Wagons. The software is used for developing mathematical models of various rolling stocks for Indian Railways, with the objective of analysing the dynamic performance of the vehicle vs. existing Indian Railway criteria. Anumber of railway vehicles such as ICF coach, LHB coach, variants of these coaches and BOXN wagon etc. have been modelled and their dynamic behaviour simulated with the help of these software packages. These simulation tools help in reducing a number of field trials that would otherwise have been inescapable. It may be noted here that although mathematical modelling does not entirely eliminate the need for field trials, the number of such trials gets substantially reduced since several iterations can be carried out to improve a suspension by using these software packages before the design is optimised, thus saving a huge amount of expenditure since these iterations would otherwise have required physical trials at each stage. [18]3.0 PROJECTS COMPLETED 3.1 Development of Low Cost Stainless Steel Coach Design with LHB Shell on ICF Bogie RDSO had developed a low cost stainless steel coach design with LHB shell on ICF bogie fitted with air springs in secondary suspension. Railway Board has decided to complete switch over from manufacture of ICF coaches to this type of coaches. The coach has better maintainability and corrosion resistance. The specification of the coach design was earlier issued by RDSO to PUs. All the layouts of stainless steel self-generating coach variants including mixed coaches have been prepared. Layout drawings of eleven variants of low cost LHB stainless steel coach with ICF bogie having air suspension have been approved by Railway Board and issued to PUs/ Zonal Railways. The proposed layouts have average 10% higher berthing capacity than that of ICF type with sufficient provision of linen and other service space, 3.2 Introduction of Air Springs at Secondary Suspension of Mainline ICF Bogie Coaches The existing IR coaches are operated at speeds of upto 105 kmph on other thanRajdhani standard track and 130 kmph over Rajdhani standard track, with FIAT coaches being cleared for 160 kmph speeds. To further improve the ride, pneumatic suspension (also called air springs) have been designed and subjected to detailed field trials for evaluation of passenger comfort and safety. Similar springs have been in service on suburban sections for about eight years with good results. ‘A comparison of ride quality achieved during oscillation trials between coaches provided with coil springs and air springs is given below:- ‘S.No. WITH COIL SPRING WITH AIR SPRING (Report No. MT—317) (Report No. MT - 832) Vertical ride Lateral ride Vertical ride Lateral ride Grmax Rlmax max | Rlmax Imax Rlmax Imax Rlinax Empty condition Empiy condition 1 026 ] 318 | 0.25 | 3.34 | 0.133 | 2743 | 0.112 | 2637 (120) | (100) | (130) | (100) | (145) | (145) | 135 | (135) Loaded condition Loaded condition 2 0.21 3.10 0.28 3.78 | 0.148 2.72 0.096 | 2.581 (100) | (95) | (95) | (100) | (145) | (145) | (135) | (135) Comparison of ride quality of coil spring / air spring over Rajdhani standard track (for AC III tier coach with ICF bogies) (RI' denotes Sperling Ride Index, 'g’ denotes peak acceleration values recorded at floor level nearest to the trailing bogie pivot. Values in brackets denote speeds at which these values were recorded.) 3.3 Aero-dynamic Profile of High Horse Power DMU and MEMU Coaches RDSO has developed aero-dynamic front of high horse power DMU and MEMU coaches to reduce the air drag thereby reducing the consu- mption of energy and also giving train an aesthetically pleas- ing look. [20]Se C0, 3.4 Fire Safety on Coaches 3.4.1 Fire Retardant Coach Materials and Aesthetic Considerations Following fire retardant coach furnishing materials are being fitted from August 2007 onallnewand selectively on coaches with 18 months POH periodicity: (a) PVC flooring and Compreg floor boards (b) Vinyl coated fabric and cloth for upholstery (©) Curtains (d) Natural Fibre Composite sheets and LP sheets for paneling (e) FRPdoorsand windows (f) Seat and berth cushions (g) Vestibules From aesthetic viewpoint pleasing colour shades ii with proper colour matching have been chosen to give Improved Interior of the Coach pleasant look and longer life. 3.4.2. Fire Simulation on IR Coaches with SNCF Work for supply of fire simulation software was awarded to by M/S SNCF at the cost of 97.57 lakhs. The scope of the project included supply of fire simulation software, report of fire simulation on two types of coaches under four different scenarios and technical support for one year. The simulation software has been installed in RDSO. M/s SNCF has also submitted the simulation reports of two types of coaches under two scenarios - one each for GSCN and ACCN coach. Training on use of the software has been given by two experts of SNCF International to RDSO officers/staff for 9 days from 17-3-2009 to 27-3-2009. The aim is to develop independent capability in RDSO to do fire simulation on coaches for optimizing the layout of coach with respect to partitions, fire barrier etc. and selection of materials. Technical support for one year after completion of the training is available in case of any difficulty. Simulation of GS coach and other coach models is being developed by RDSO independently. t=306 sec. t=384sec, [21]