Reduced model identification for traction drive-trains

Traction drive-trains of modern locomotives consist of a flexible multi-inertia structure experiencing significant wheelset wear due to wheel-rail-contact and ageing of rubber elastic joints during its operational life. For control design an accurate and suitable reduced model is required. Therefore a universal reduced model identification is proposed, taking branched traction drive-trains and parameter adaption due to wheelset wear and rubber ageing into consideration. The identification effort is lowered by applying previous knowledge of the flexible structure to comply with the limitations imposed by the traction application. Finally the proposed scheme is tested on a European high-performance locomotive.