Design and stress analysis of the protective rod of a rail-car bogie bolster made of hybrid metal and carbon/epoxy composites under low-velocity impact

Today, with the increase in population and the volume of rail travel and commercial exchanges, the need to develop this industry has become more apparent. On the other hand, society's concern about the production of pollutants and global warming has limited the development of this industry. One of the approaches to deal with this limitation is to lighten the railway cars to reduce fuel consumption and pollutant production.In this study, firstly, the concepts of material resistance and composite material mechanics have been used to design the composite structure of this part according to the impact loading applied to it. Then, to use the finite element method to analyze the stresses and critical areas of the designed piece, Abaqus software and its Explicit solver have been used. A similar analysis was performed on the original steel sample to compare its behavior and performance with that of the designed composite sample.At the end of this study, a composite bolster protective bar sample was designed using a combination of steel and epoxy/carbon composite (CFRP). This design reduces the weight and increases the reliability factor. In addition to these results, the critical regions of the part and the type of damage the designed sample is prone to have been determined.

کلیدواژه ها:

Composites materials ، Carbon/Epoxy ، Bolster protection bar ، Finite element method ، Low-velocity impact