Shaping light rail vehicle wheel profile in terms of wear and ride safety

This paper presents relationships between tram wheel profile geometry and ride safety and wear factors in a model based approach. In order to properly formulate the assumptions for the wheel profile geometry, the influence of selected parameters of the tram wheel profile (number of contact points, clearance between the wheel and the rail, flange inclination) on the dynamic interaction with the rail was determined. Referring to the current state of tram operation conditions in Polish cities, as well as the available scientific literature, the existing, incorrectly selected wheel-rail pairs were also identified in terms of unfavourable placement of contact points, similarity of profile shapes and clearance between the wheel and rail. The interdependencies presented in this work complement the knowledge in the field of cooperation of the tram wheel with the rail, as well as shaping the wheel profile, which is particularly valuable due to the limited number of scientific studies on this subject so far.