Transit Vehicle Curving Behavior in a Tight Turn with and without a Restraining Rail

Prediction of the forces that occur between wheel and rail during the negotiation of sharp curves has been the subject of special interest because of the large forces that can be generated in this situation. As a result of the discrepancy between theoretical and experimental results, the two-point contact situation was modeled. Comparisons were made between the predictions from the two-point contact method and the experimental curving performance of a transit vehicle over curves in the range 2/spl deg/ to 7.5/spl deg/. The paper deals with the application of the two-point contact method to the situation of a transit vehicle on a very tight turn (150 ft radius or 38.2/spl deg/). Two different rail configurations were considered; with and without a restraining rail.