COMPARISON OF CARBON STEEL AND COMPOSITE SIDE WALL OF LIGHT RAIL VEHICLE BY FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Abstract

A Railroad car is a vehicle used for carrying passengers and cargo. In the modern era, rail vehicles are designed as lightweight structures with the aim to minimize mass, operational energy demands, and CO2 emissions. Light rail vehicle is used at street level where they have direct contact with normal traffic and have a short distance between stations. In order to reduce dwell time at stops, and so, the vehicle can accelerate and deaccelerate easily, weight should be less and that is why low floor design is adopted these days. The sidewall is a crucial part of the car body because it stands the weight of the roof, AC unit and ensures the safety of occupants. This thesis research deals with two loads on the side wall of railroad car i.e. Dead load of the roof and the wind load. Lowering the energy usage in railroad rolling stock often requires new weight-out strategies. So, the main motivation is to replace the heavy material carbon steel with advanced composite which can significantly cut weight while establishing great stiffness and strength and delivering vital benefits like reducing the complexity of structure. The main aim of the work is to compare and correlate results obtained from the analysis of various types of materials currently used for Railroad Car body production. Composite Material is recommended for the safe operation of Sidewall panels under dead load of the roof and side wind load replacing the conventional material without compromising the safety. ABAQUS is used for the simulation needs. Effect of above-applied loads on different combination of materials for the side wall structure is studied in addition to modal (Vibration) analysis.