A New Measuring Method Of Wheel-Rail Contact Forces

A new measuring method introduced in this paper can measure contact forces between wheel and rail without special wheelsets with slip rings or telemeters. In this method the lateral contact force is measured from the lateral distortion of wheel measured by several non-contact gap sensors. The measured values are small, but accurate value of lateral force can be calculated by the compensation of axial movement and inclination of wheelset. Normal and longitudinal contact forces are also measured from the strain of parts of the truck except wheelsets. According to the results of full-size truck stand tests and train running tests, we have verified that the new method has sufficient accuracy of measuring compared with conventional methods.