Addis Ababa Institute of Technology

African Railway Center of Excellence

Mechanical Engineering – Rolling Stock

Research Methodology

Individual Assignment

Title: A REVIEW ON RAILWAY VEHICLES CARBODY STRUCTURAL

ANALYSIS

Submitted By ID No:

1. NAOL KUSA GSR/6513/14

Submitted To: Dr. Wondossen Bogale (PHD)

June, 20, 2023

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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Abstract

Introduction: The railway vehicle structures generally have the main components of
shells, center sill, under frame, and beams, and behavior of these members directly
affects static and dynamic structural behaviors of these vehicles. Problem statement: In
railway transportation the weight of car body has the main factor to reduce the efficiency
operation train transportation. Therefore, Modern rail vehicles passenger carbodies are
designed as lightweight structures with the aim to minimize mass and thus operational
energy demand. At the same time the vehicle carbody shall be designed as stiff as
possible to withstand exceptional loads. Objective: The purpose of the review was to
analyze a rail vehicle carbody structure that that used to solve the issue of strength and
comfort which is also includes the design and modeling, optimization, comparison of
different materials for railway carbody and its validation by some engineering software
like FEM. Methodology: This review was accomplished by preferred reporting items for
systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) statements. Result: The output of the
analysis shows that the maximum deflection occurs at midway of the span of the length
and the selected sections for the different components of the rail vehicle are capable of
carrying the intended purpose.

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A Review on Railway Vehicles Carbody Structural Analysis

Authors: NAOL KUSA a

a Masters Student of Railway Engineering (Rolling Stock), Addis Ababa Institute of Technology

1. Introduction

The need for mass transportation is increasing in several big cities, so rail-based transportation as
one of the solutions. Light Rail Transit (LRT) is one type of rail-based transportation mode
currently operating [6]. Therefore it is important to know the tendency for increasing the trains’
speed of travel is followed by the great attention of researchers. The carbody of rolling stock is a
principal structure that supports major equipment of the underframe and the freight like Gondola
car which is used for transporting railroad freight made from steel [1].The lightweight of railway
vehicles has become a trend in vehicle design because it can achieve the purposes of improving
vehicle dynamic performance and energy-saving. The use of aluminum alloy material can
achieve the large wide-body of profile for its light weight, high strength and other characteristics.
The aluminum alloy car body was used to the lightweight design of railway vehicle; however,
fatigue reliability has become a key issue [2]. Railway vehicle bodies shall withstand the
maximum loads consistent with their operational requirements and achieve the required service
life under normal operating conditions with an adequate probability of survival. The capability of
the train vehicle body is to sustain required loads without permanent deformations and fractures.

Different research has been done on the materials used for the railway vehicles to get the
materials advantage to minimize the stress, vibration, minimize the material deformation and
other related to maximize the static nature of the train and to reduce the weight of the vehicle
body.

The main objective of the review was to analysis the performance of the different materials and
methods used in railway vehicle car body structural analysis using the finite element method. It
also focuses on to analyze a rail vehicle carbody structure that that used to solve the issue of
strength and comfort which is also includes the design and modeling, optimization, comparison
of different materials for railway carbody and its validation by some engineering software like
FEM. We motivated to review the static structural behavior of the railway vehicles, i.e., stress

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and strain distribution, under different loading cases which is supported by FE analyses, since we
have learned the construction and maintenance courses by instructor who is knowledgeable on
this area. A number of researchers performed /or analyzed the rail vehicle car body by using
different materials and methods.

The review is organized into five parts. Procedures of collecting papers to be reviewed are
elaborated in section two under review methodology. Next, a detail review of each paper on
railway vehicle carbody structure analysis is presented in section three. Result and discussion of
each study is presented in section four. Finally, Conclusion is drawn in section five.

2. Review Methodology

This review was accomplished by preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-
analyses (PRISMA) statements. Various related articles, journals and proceeding conferences
from various data bases such as ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, Research Gate, and Google
searching were selected. The review was mostly focus on FEM software to understand different
analysis on railway vehicles carbody structure including optimizations, compare materials for the
carbody. Some articles was downloaded from database and the file didn’t downloaded was
rejected. We used some words, phrases to search a related document to with our topic like
“structural analysis”, “carbody”, “structural analysis on carbody”, “rail vehicle carbody”,
“FEM/FEA on train carbody”, “train”, “rolling stock carbody”. A number of papers were
obtained from database by using these key words and we filtered out them by selecting only the
paper which focus on the carbody structures by using software’s and we rejected those analysis
performed both experimentally and analytically. From different source we get different articles
and scientific research papers. From 49 articles and scientific research papers that are related to
railway vehicle car body. These articles we selected 10 articles for review the article on
structural analysis of railway vehicle car body: review on structural analysis with FEM. This
method was achieved by reading the papers abstracts, methods and conclusions.

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Research gate (10) and Google scholars (15)
scientific direct (24)

49 of records are 15 of records excluded due

identified to duplicate

34 of records screened 12 of records excluded due

to title difference and
abstract (14)

22 of records are 12 of record not included

assessed for eligibility because absence of FEM

10 of articles selected for

final review

Figure: Flow of information through different phases of a systematic review

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 3. Review

Yoon, S.-C, 2015 [1], tried to evaluate whether or not the underframe of a gondola car under the
maximal strength is safe by using structural analysis and loading test with the attachment of the
strain gauge at different areas on side sill including front and rear of carbody. The writers used a
finite element method to validate the expectation of the maximum stress. They found that the
maximum stress of 187.8 MPa (compressive) at the center sill and was less than the yield
strength of the material (323MPa).

Qi Luo et al, 2019 [2], introduced that the laser-welded stainless steel carbody used in subway
cars which is used to achieve the lightweight goal of the carbody. Also they discussed on
carbody structure, welding methods, strength and fatigue analysis methods, and test verification
and validation results by using the finite element analysis (FEA) to conduct on the preliminary
design to evaluate the strength and optimize the structure by comparing it with different tests and
traditional welding process. The finite element analysis for the subway carbody is a very reliable
simulation method, since the maximum von mises stress was 292.5MPa which is below the yield
strength. The laser welding analysis method of the rail vehicle is highly efficient and can be
generalized to better control the design and manufacturing quality of future stainless steel
vehicles.

Ning XIE et al. 2015 [3], tried to analyze the fatigue strength of an aluminum alloy car body by
using the Goodman fatigue limit diagram based on the mechanical properties of the alloy and
finite element model based shell element. They were determined the static strength and fatigue
strength analysis load cases of car body based on the EN 12663 standard. At the end they found
that, under the static strength load cases, the maximum equivalent stress of car body which
appears in the corner of the door is 225.481MPa which is below the yield strength (295MPa)
and the maximum vertical deformation of car body is 6.87mm, both of them meet the static
strength and stiffness requirements; Under the fatigue load cases, the minimum safety factor of
car body fatigue strength is 2.41, which meets the fatigue strength requirement. Therefore, the
fatigue strength analysis method of aluminum alloy car body provides the reference data for
lightweight design of car body.

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Oleksij Fomin , Alyona Lovska, 2020 [4],stated that the previous transportation of passenger
carbody was transported by clamp fixation on the deck of train ferry which is more imposed to
the dynamic loading and the fixation was at center sill of the carbody on deck. Higher stresses in
the units of interaction between the passenger car body and fastening systems can cause stability
loss relative to the deck and may result in sinking of a train ferry. To solve such problems the
authors suggests that the strength of passenger car bodies under train ferry transportation can be
provided by mounting fastening elements of chain binders on the body bolster beams. The
authors determine the dynamic loading on a passenger car body under sea transportation and the
design of car body was verified by FEM. They aimed to reduce the high stress created by clamp
fixation by using instead hydraulic damper operation by 60%. The study determined the basic
strength parameters of a passenger car body under train ferry transportation. It was established
that the maximum equivalent stresses occurred in the fixating clamps on the deck, and accounted
for about 350 MPa thus exceeding the admissible values. The maximum displacements were
11.8 mm; they were concentrated in the middle sections of the sidewalls. It can result in stability
loss for the passenger car body relative to the deck, and endanger the safety of train ferry
transportation; So that, the structural improvements for a passenger car body are aimed at
ensuring reliable fixation on the train ferry which results The maximum equivalent stresses
accounted for 120 MPa and were concentrated in the lining which simulated the support part of
the unit. The maximum displacements emerged in the center sill of a car and accounted for 6.47
mm.

H. Molatefi et al. 2016 [5], interested in increasing the trains’ speed of travel, generated higher
degrees of wariness about the possible sever accidents. Since, the passenger wagon car body
needs to be a safe compartment for its occupants. Therefore, the authors want to analysis a study
on crashworthiness of an Eastern Germany carbody in accordance with EN 15227 standards.
This study was required because of the original structure of the carbody revealed with the
weakness of the structure against collision due to the lack of energy absorbent chassis head stock
and to improve the existed structure in crashworthiness they proposed a new structure of chassis
head stock in which honeycomb absorber layers is mounted at the end of the chassis by using
FEM simulation. At the end of the study they reached that, by modifying the under-frame the
amount of energy absorption is increased by 46%, and also, the amount of maximum stress in the
center of the under-frame is reduced by 66%.

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Achmad Syaifudin et al. 2021 [6], focused on two common series of aluminum alloy that used to
construct car body of light rail transit (LRT), i.e. Al 6061 and Al 6005a and they compared the
alloys strength for carbody by using FEA method with four cases of static loading on the
carbody. Finally they reached a conclusion from the simulation they performed that Al 6005a has
better characteristics to be used for constructing the car body of LRT.

Lee, W. G., et al. 2016 [7], aimed to examine the possibility of constructing a magnesium car
body structure for the purpose of weight reduction. Two aspects are discussed. The first one is on
the structural design and weight benefits of a magnesium car body structure and its structural
performance, and the second on its manufacturing potential. The structural analysis of the newly
designed magnesium car body is conducted via finite element method (FEM). The strength and
stiffness of the car body were assessed as stated in a Japanese railway standard. The authors after
conducting in sum, through the five tests in JIS E 7105, all the simulation results demonstrated
that the newly designed car body satisfied the structural requirements. Compared with the
aluminum car body data, the calculated stiffness of the magnesium car body is very close to that
of the aluminum one. From the strength criterion perspective, it should be noted that, since the
highly stressed regions are usually found at door corners or window corners, better designs can
be achieved by employing local reinforcements or eliminating geometric discontinuities

Miao, B., et al. 2009 [8], explained an integrated fatigue life and durability evaluation method
based on multibody dynamics simulation (MBS) and finite element analysis for a locomotive car
body is presented. A multi-disciplinary optimization algorithm is developed to handle the
conflicting requirements of lightweight and good fatigue resistant car body structure designs.
And the car body’s load histories are obtained by creating a full vehicle multibody dynamics
model and a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model. The car body fatigue damage
assessment is carried out based on the nature of analysis, the form of load cases and a way in
which they are combined shall be agreed between designer and operator. The car body
structure’s modal analysis result is the vertical bending mode shape with relative displacement of
the locomotive car body is 0.02607(m). The danger nodes’ stress Power Spectral Density (PSD)
(Von Mises PSD (MPa2/Hz)) is 10.2061. The car body fatigue damage and safety factors based
on the stress from the simulation results and compares the predicted fatigue life from tests and
the ones obtained from FEMBS simulation results at the critical regions of the car body structure.

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The fatigue life predictions from FEMBS simulation are closely matches with experimental
results with an exception of node 95707 the mean fatigue life prediction error is approximately
30.7%.

Lu, Y., et al. (2018) [9], have taken a welded aluminum alloy carbody of the high-speed train as
a research object. First, the load spectra of the carbody bearing positions are obtained by
establishing a system dynamics model of the carbody and a full-scale finite element shell model
of the carbody. According to the specified conditions, the dynamic stresses of the carbody on the
side wall and underframe are tested, and the influence of loads in three directions on fatigue
strength of the carbody is analyzed. The maximum dynamic stress range of the window corner is
10.023MPa in the vertical and longitudinal dynamic load test, and the maximum structural stress
range of the window corner is 9.517MPa in the calculation. Therefore, the relative error between
the measured dynamic stress range and the calculated dynamic stress range is 5.05%. The
reasons for the difference between the calculated stress range and the measured stress range are
as follows: (1) A large amount of structural details are neglected during modeling (2) The
random load is used in calculation, and the constant amplitude load is applied in the lab test. The
difference in load results causes a large difference in local stress re-distribution. (3) In the lab
test, the quality of the suspension equipment is distributed by evenly placing sandbags in the
carbody. And in the calculation process, the suspension equipment adopts a local-rigid
connection. (4) The measured stress is the measured uniaxial (longitudinal and vertical) stress
separately, and the stress values are linearly superposed. The relative errors between the
calculated results and measured results are less than 6.50%, and the calculated structural stress
ranges are effective. And finally the researchers conclude that an aluminum alloy welded
carbody for high-speed trains is taken as the research object, and the finite element
transformation method of dynamic structural stress was proposed. First, the finite element model
and multi-body system dynamics model of the carbody were established, and the vertical and
longitudinal load spectrums of the carbody were calculated. The polynomial fitting method and
orthogonal experimental design were used to achieve the transformation from the load spectrum
to the dynamic structure stress.

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Yoon, Jeon et al. (2007) [10], aimed to evaluate the safety and functionality of the body structure
operating under maximum load. Also, they attempted to make a lightweight vehicle structure in
order to reduce the amount of parts and materials used in its manufacture, and reducing the
vehicle’s energy consumption by making it as lightweight as possible and considerable
improvements in terms of increasing the speed and reducing railroad maintenance charge was
achieved. This analysis was carried out to evaluate the performance of the aluminum body
structure using the finite element method and stress test under different static loading condition
test such us vertical load test, end compressive load test, twist test and 3-point support test. As a
result of the structural analysis, the maximum stress reached 11.12 kg f/ mm2 in the base metal
under the lower area at the corner of the window; that of the horizontal and compressive loading,
the stress that reached 7.24 kg f/ mm2 occurred in the base metal of the coupler pad; that of the
three-point support load, the stress that reached 10.98 kg f/ mm2 occurred in the metal base of the
lower area at the corner of the window; and that of the twist loading, the stress that reached 2.64
kg f/ mm2 occurred in the welding area of the lower area at the entrance door’s corner. Finally,
the stresses measured after all individual loadings were all within the allowable stress. So, the
vehicle made from aluminum is therefore safe in its degree of strength.

4. Result and Discussion

As we seen from the review different authors used different methods to analysis the railway
vehicle carbody structures and to achieve these, they used different methods to evaluate the
strength of the carbody, weight optimization by using different alloys and mathematical models,
and also different welding types. In my perspective it is better to have a common standard for
same types of carbody structure constructing to reduce the bias between the readers or the
designers.

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 Let summarize some reviewed articles as follow:

S/No. Authors Name, Material used Types of Weakness Strength

year vehicles

1. Yoon, et al, Steel Gondola car No detail analysis of the -Experimental

2015 software was elaborated -Software Simulation
2. Qi, Luo et al, stainless steel Subway cars Only FEM software is -The design was supported by
2019 used experimental test.
-The result from simulation
was acceptable.
3. Ning, XIE et al, Al alloy Railway The design was not The design was supported by
2015 vehicle evaluated by practical analytical analysis.
working. Various loading was applied
4. O. Fomin et al, Passenger car -The material used for They improved the damage
2020 design was not will be happened on the car
- mentioned in the paper body structure during
-No experimental test transportation from
manufacturer.
5. H, Molatefi et Steel alloys Passenger car No justification was Based on the simulation good
al,2016 given for FEM by strength of carbody is achieved
experimental during collision.
6. Yoon, Jeon et Al alloy Urban rail Full length test was not The simulation and the test
al. (2007) vehicle carried results are matched each other.
7. Achmad S et Al alloy Light Rail Don't compare or Strength and deformation
al, 2016 Transit mention Al Car Body's analyses have been conducted
life. on both material properties
8. Lee, et al, 2016 Mg alloy Passenger car Detail information is not The design was supported by
provided FEA and experimental
analysis,
The new design minimized
weight of Carbody by 12.7%.

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 5. Conclusions and Recommendation

The rail vehicle body shall be designed as stiff as possible to resist the incoming compressive,
vertical, quasi static, vibration stress and as the same time provide comfort to the passenger on
board. Most of the High stresses and deformations of the rail carbody was recorded at the center
sill and bottom corner of window sill. Based on the investigation above we found that different
author’s uses different materials, methods and loading conditions to achieve their studies by
supporting with simulation by FEM. Such things will form an ambiguity between readers on
understanding the railway vehicle carbody structural analysis since the authors doesn’t
mentioned the reason why the want to select different materials and loading condition by
comparing with the other. However, the tried to increase the speed of train by optimizing the
carbody weight and passenger comfort with good ride quality.

Finally, I recommend that, it is important to put common standard or/appropriate material for
rail vehicle body to reduce the weight and increase the strength of rail vehicle body and improve
the comfort of the passenger.

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Reference

1. Yoon, S.-C. (2015). "A Study on the Safety of Carbody for Railway Vehicles." Trans
Tech Publications, Vol. 627: 409-412
2. Luo, Q., et al. (2019). Design and Strength Evaluation of Laser-Welded Carbody for
Railway Vehicles. ASME/IEEE Joint Rail Conference, American Society of Mechanical
Engineers.
3. Ning XIE, Y.-H. L. (2015). Fatigue Strength Research on Aluminum Alloy Car Body for
Railway Vehicle Based on Finite Element Analysis Method. International Conference on
Material Science and Application (ICMSA). Sichuan, China.
4. Fomin, O. and A. Lovska (2020). "Improvements in passenger car body for higher
stability of train ferry." Engineering Science and Technology, an International Journal
23(6): 1455-1465.
5. H. Molatefi (2016). "Crashworthiness Analysis and Energy Absorption Enhancement of a
Passenger Rail Vehicle." International Journal of Railway Research, (2016) 3(1): 45-54.
6. Achmad Syaifudin et al, (2021). Strength consideration on car body of light rail transit
making from aluminum extrusion. IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering
Indonesia. 1034.

7. Lee, W. G., et al. (2016). "The next generation material for lightweight railway car body
structures: Magnesium alloys." Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers,
Part F: Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit 232(1): 25-42.

8. Miao, B., et al. (2009). "Evaluation of Railway Vehicle Car Body Fatigue Life and
Durability using a Multi-disciplinary Analysis Method." International Journal of Vehicle
Structures and Systems 1(4).

9. Lu, Y., et al. (2018). "Analysis methods of the dynamic structural stress in a full-scale
welded carbody for high-speed trains." Advances in Mechanical Engineering 10(10).
10. Yoon, Jeon et al. (2007). Yoon, S.C., C.S. Jeon, and J.G. Kim. Structural Strength
Evaluation of a Carbody by Finite Element Analysis and Load Test. in Key Engineering
Materials. 2007. Trans Tech Publ.

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