Infrastructure Design Signalling Security Railway PDF
Infrastructure Design Signalling Security Railway PDF
INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN,
SIGNALLING AND SECURITY
IN RAILWAY
Edited by Xavier Perpinya
Published by InTech
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Copyright 2012 InTech
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First published March, 2012
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Contents
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Maglev 123
Hamid Yaghoubi, Nariman Barazi and Mohammad Reza Aoliaei
Part 2
Chapter 7
95
179
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
VI
Contents
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Part 3
333
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
447
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Part 1
Railway Systems in the World
1
The Role of Light Railway in
Sugarcane Transport in Egypt
Hassan A. Abdel-Mawla
Fig. 1. Development of the role of light railway system for feeding row materials to sugar
industry.
Fig. 3. A map of light railway network of NH. sugar factory established 1896 (Courtsy,
Sugar & Int. Idustry Company)
Fig. 4. Size (gauge) of the Egyptian light railway for cane transport
Fishplates are used to connect the ends of rails along the track. A short space is left between
the ends of the rails for thermal expansion. Since this sort of rail lines are ballast-less expanded
on dirt roads with considerably wide interval between sleepers, the alignment of the rail ends
at the point of fishplate connection is not always secured. To overcome the probable vertical
misalignment at the expansion gap, a short single bolt rail plate is used. Figure 6 show the
single bolt alignment short rail piece. Whenever the train is coming from any direction, the
near end of the plate is aligned to the end of the rail, carrying the train wheel and turn around
the pin to be aligned to the front rail. This simple arrangement largely reduces hard sudden
impact, reduces rapid wear and breakdowns of the rail wagons undercarriage.
Locomotives of 250 hp and more have been used to work on the main narrow railway
lines. Most of these locomotives are of 350 hp operated to pull the empty wagons to the
field and pull back the loaded train to the mill. Experienced operators have been
employed to drive such locomotives to ensure the train travel safety. The locomotive
driver should be memorizing the location of large number of switches and be sure each
is switched to the proper direction on his way either to the field or back to the mill. The
driver should also be aware about the location of infield roads which the train crosses.
A person is assigned to help the driver during the trip. Figure 7 shows one of the
narrow gauge railway locomotives of 350 hp that used to pull the sugarcane train.
Locomotives of power from range from 150 to 250 hp are used to pull the loaded rail
wagons inside the mill yard. Such locomotives are used for pulling the wagons for
weighing and for unloading. Intensive maneuvering operations may be required inside
the mill yard to move the loaded wagons toward the unloading line. The small
locomotives also used to clear the discharged wagons from the yard to the departure
lines to save more room for the trains coming from the fields.
Locomotives of power less than 150 hp are used to move the unloaded wagons away
from the unloading line. These types of locomotives perform a lot of maneuvering
operations inside the mill yard to collect the empty wagons and to move the empty
train to the departure line.
10
The loading volume inside the wagon may be ranged from 14 to 18 m3. The cane is loaded
parallel to the longitudinal axle of the wagon. The load may be expanded up to 1 m over the
wagon side columns to permit higher capacity of the wagon.
Transverse steel channels welded to the loading surface of the wagon to permit passing the
chains under the load while unloading the wagon in the mill. Figures (8) and (9) shows
isometric and projection drawings of the light railway cane transport wagon.
11
To secure uniform diurnal arrival of the current of railway wagons to the mill.
To reduce the probability of loaded wagons delivery delay.
To face the overload transport due to accidental conditions.
To secure overnight operation of the mill.
Figures 10 and 11 show the trains while transporting sugarcane. The operation of the light
railway system for cane supply to the mill has to be performed according to a pre-defined
schedule. The mill seasonal operation period should be approximately estimated based on
the daily capacity of the mill, cane production area and average production of the unit area.
The average data of the recent juicing seasons would be helpful in that concern.
The size of the railway wagons fleet required for a sugar mill may be determined according
to variable conditions. The mill daily capacity represents the total mass of raw materials has
to be supplied to the mill around 24 hours. Row cane delivery Schedule plan should
determine the quantities of sugarcane to be transported by road vehicles. General estimation
of the average rail wagon capacity should be estimated based on the past season data. Cycle
time of the rail wagon transport trip should also be clear and specified. In addition to
several other factors related to harvesting, infield transport and loading, the rate of the rail
wagons breakdowns occurred during the season should be considered.
The rate of row materials delivered by the light railway wagons around the day should be
managed by the mill administration to reduce the waiting time at the unloading queue. The
mill administration may have to consider the following steps to estimate the numbers of the
rail wagons, pull locomotives and operation team around the day:
-
The labor operation is arranged into three shifts which are; morning shift that last from
7 am to 3 pm, evening shift from 3 pm to 11 pm and night shift from 11 pm to 7 am.
Road transport is limited to the diurnal period and vehicles may continue arrive to the
unloading queue till the evening. Therefore the supply of road transport may be limited
to the morning and evening shifts.
Supply of sugarcane row materials to the mill during the night shift depend mainly on
the light railway system.
Diurnal operation of the light railway wagons should be considered to secure the
shortage of road transport supply to maintain continuous operation of the mill.
The operation of the light railway wagons is arranged as diurnal and night fleets. The
number of railway wagons required for diurnal operation and those required for
overnight operation should be estimated. Wagon/s with certain card number/s
assigned to transport the cane of certain farmer. A locomotive pulls the empty train to
certain region and then pulls the loaded wagons back at specific time.
Specific time duration is determined for mill yard departure and arrival of each of the
diurnal operated trains and the overnight operated trains.
Androw and Ian (2005) reported that several mill regions within the Australian sugar
industry are currently exploring long-term scenarios to reduce costs in the harvesting and
rail transport of sugarcane. These efficiencies can be achieved through extending the time
window of harvesting, reducing the number of harvesters, and investing in new or
12
Value
Mill capacity
= 140 days
Daily supply
= 500 tons/h
= 9 tons
Table 1. Basic data required to estimate the number of light rail wagons.
Table 2 presents estimation of the narrow railway wagons fleet size required to secure
adequate supply of the mill daily capacity of cane row materials.
Mill
Light
Departure Return
yard
railway
Required
time
time
Required
Shift
waiting
cane supply contribution
Shift
wagons
duration
ton
Fro
To
h
%
ton
From To
m
7 am
4000
50
2000
223
Morning
15 pm
7
16
12 19
6-10
Diurnal
am pm am pm
15 pm
4000
10
400
45
Evening
23 pm
19
00
23 6
23 pm
10
4000
90
3600
400
Night
pm am pm am
7 am
Table 2. Estimation of the railway wagon fleet size
The efficiency of the narrow railway cane transport system may be largely improved by
reducing transport cycle time as follow:
-
Reducing the time of the loaded wagon waiting in the mill yard.
Mechanize cane loading operation.
Improve the rail line management related to switches and signalling system.
Fig. 10. A narrow rail train is loaded with cane and ready for pull
Fig. 11. Train loaded with on the way back to the mill
13
14
The labor loaders may fit the cane bundles tightly to ensure efficient use the whole
volume of the wagon.
The labor loading may permit employing a knifeman who is working over the wagon to
cut the curved parts of the cane Figure 12. After the labor place the cane bundle in the
loading area, the knife man cut the uneven parts of the cane stalks to facilitate higher
density load. This activity may be important specially if the cane is taken from a lodged
field.
The labor loading may also permit a better chance to expand the load by force fit
vertical columns of cane stalks when the load level become over the steel side columns
of the wagon.
15
Fig. 13. Mechanical loading of light railway wagons using a tractor mounted loader
(developed by the author).
16
Fig. 14. Light railway system handle cane transported cross Nile
17
Fig. 16. Balastless narrow rail track showing intensive ruste of sleepers buried in the clay soil
18
19
The narrow railroad has to be doublicated at several locations. The main track is for the loaded
train travel from the field to the mill. The auxilary track established at certain locations for the
travel of the empty train coming from the factory to the field. The additional track also
maintain the manuver of the locomotives while collecting the loaded wagons together and the
manuver of the pull locomotive to turn in front of the loaded train before pulling it back to the
mill. It has been observed that intensive herbs may grow on the auxiliary patrs of the railroad
Figure 19. Intinsive herbs may cause wagon wheels climb off the track.
Fig. 18. The narrow railroad constructed on the middle of an infield road with parts covered
with dirt
Fig. 19. Herbs intensively grow and harm the auxiliary railroad
20
Fig. 20. Two technicians inspect the probable breakdowns of the rail track
Fig. 21. Replacing the corroded steel sleepers of the rail track
21
22
23
future of the sugarcane light railway of Australia, John Browning (2007) stated that Cane
railways will continue to surprise and to interest, and they will remain "special" to the men
who operate them, to the many visitors to the areas in which they run, and to those who
simply love railways. It has been recommended that, some of the modern techniques
developed in countries such as Australia to control the light railway sugarcane transport
cycle time should be considered.
Finally, the light railway for sugarcane transport represents the backbone of the raw
material feeding system for sugar industry in Egypt. The system has several advantages
compared to road transport such as lower transport cost, higher reliability, higher
stability and minimum accidents occurred. Application of the advanced techniques for
minimizing transport cycle duration expected to help for regaining the pioneer role of the
light railway transport system. Practical ideas to increase wagons capacity and to improve
mill yard management have been currently developed to speed up the system. Light
railway transport system will continue being the familiar lovely transport system for
sugarcane farmers.
8. Acknowledgements
The author wishes to announce that part of the data was collected through a project
financed by the Egyptian Science and Technology Development Fund. The help of the
members of the Sugar and Integrated Industry Company is also acknowledged.
24
9. References
Abdel-Mawla (2011) Expert system for selecting cane transport system. Egyptian Sugar
Journal. Vol. 4, June 2011: 161-178
Abdel-Mawla (2010) Efficiency of mechanical cane loading in Egypt. Sugar Tech. 2010, vol.
12, no2, pp. 108-114 [7 page(s) (article)]
Abdel-Mawla H A. (2000) Analysis of cane delay of traditional delivery systems: Paper
presented to the MSAE, Menofia Univ.:25-26 October 2000.
Abdel-Mawla H A. (2001) Alternative cane to mill delivery systems. MJAE 18 (3): 647-662.
Affifi, F. (1988) ) Sugar production in Egypt. Central Council for Sugar Crops. Ministry of
Agriculture and Land Reclamation.
Andrew H. and Ian D. (2005) A simulation model for capacity planning in sugarcane
transport. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. Elsevier Science Publishers B.
V. Amsterdam, The Netherlands Volume 47 Issue 2, May, 2005
John Browning (2007) Queensland sugar cane railways today. Light Railway Research
Society of Australia. http://www.lrrsa.org.au/LRR_SGRb.htm
Malelane, M. (2000) Evaluation of Cane Transport Modes From Loading Zone to Mill to
Minimize Transport Costs. ISSCT Agricultural Engineering Workshop. South
Africa 23-28 July, 2000. http://issct.intnet.mu/past-workshops/agriabs3.html#i
Lynn Z. (2008): An Introduction to Modeling Queenslands Sugar Cane Railways . 1
www.zelmeroz.com/canesig
Sugar Crops Council (1990-2010) Annual reports: The percent cane transported by light rail
wagons compared road transport: 64-74.
Soltan F. H. and Mohammed I. N. (2008) Sugar industry in Egypt. Sugar Tech. 10 (3): 204-209
2
Topological Analysis of Tokyo
Metropolitan Railway System
Takeshi Ozeki
26
However, there is no network model suitable for analysing railway systems. Then, the
rosary network in series of family the network was proposed as suitable one for railway
system networks as shown in Fig.1.1 (Ozeki, 2006).
27
The Watts-Strogatzs small world evolves from regular lattice networks to the Erdos-Renyis
random networks(Erdos, 1960) by random rewiring links with a given probability (Watts,
1998). The Watts-Strogatzs small world having fixed number of nodes is discussed as a
static network. On the other hand, the scale-free network of Barabasi-Albert (BA model)
introduces the concept of growing networks with preferential attachment (Barabashi, 1999).
One of characterizations of networks is given by the connectivity distribution of P (k), which
is the probability that a node has k degrees (or, number of links). In the scale free networks
based on BA model, the connectivity distribution follows the power law, in which P (k) is
approximated to k , having the exponent =3. The real world complex networks are
analysed to find various scale free networks having various exponents, which are covered in
references (Newman, 2006). For an example, it is well known that social infrastructure
networks, such as power grids, as egalitarian networks, follow the power law with exponent
4 (Barabasi, 2002). There were many trials reported to generate models with larger
exponents for fitting these real-world networks (Newman, 2006): Dorogovtsev et al
(Dorogovtsev, 2000) modified the preferential attachment probability and derived the exact
asymptotic solution of the connectivity distribution showing the wide range of exponents
a 2 , where a is the attractiveness. However, there was no network generation model
suitable for analysing railway systems.
We point out that nonlinear effects are inevitable in the passenger flow analysis. Since the
Google is an infrastructure in daily life same as railway system, we refer the Google: the
Google is characterized by a single dominant mode: In linear Markov transition, the
asymptotic state is always the dominant mode. However, a Japanese adage: people wish to
get together to the place where people get together or Birds with a feather flock together
is important in real world to determine such PageRanking. The Google assumes such
tendency is reflected in the page link network. Here, we point out it is not always sufficient,
and demonstrate a Markov engine with the third-order nonlinear interaction reflecting such
tendency to retrieve a real world, correctly.
We demonstrated the new engine to retrieve the largest three stations in respect of number of
passengers in Tokyo Metropolitan Railway Network, in section 4.
1.4 TSUBO: Impulse response of network
28
In Japan, Shiatsu is a popular therapy by pressing shiatsu point to enhance the bodys
natural healing ability and prevent the progression of disease. Shiatsu points are called
Tsubo, in Japanese. Their locations and effects are based on understanding of modern
anatomy and physiology. The concept of Tsubo has been used as a strategy in reactivation of an old city, such as Padova, Italy (Horiike, 2000). He calls it the Point
Stimulus. The Point Stimulus Response corresponds to the impulse response of the
network system, that is, the temporal state variation in the Markov transition to the deltafunction with negative sign of initial state. We can evaluate the node activity by its response
to the point stimulus.
We will discuss Tsubo of Tokyo metropolitan railway system in session 5.
A growth step of a railway network is modelled as illustrated in Fig.2.1 (a): a rosary that
consists of M stations connected in a shape like a rosary is added to an old railway network.
There are two cases of its constituent: one is like a rosary having two jointing links as shown
in Fig.2.1 (a) left, the other is like a snake having one jointing link as shown in Fig.2-1right.
Fig.2.1 (b) is a rosary network generated this growth mechanism: assuming the fraction of
snakes in constituent groups to be 10% and growth step 11 for convenience to grapes its
perspective.
This
topology
is
drawn
by
a
free-software:
Cytoscape
(http://www.cytoscape.org/download.html). The initial constituent is a group #0~#8 and
the total number of stations is 65. The degree distribution is illustrated in Fig.2.1(c) (the
degree denotes the number of links of a node). The degree distribution follows the power
law with exponent of 4 as shown in Fig.2.1 (c).
2.2 Multimodal analysis of Rosary network
Before analysing Tokyo Metropolitan Railway System, it seems better to analyse this small
rosary network. We assume a passenger in the rosary railway network as a random
walker, that is equivalent to multimodal Markov transition approximation (refer Appendix
1). The dominant mode of the multimodal Markov transition corresponds to the stationary
state of passenger distribution that is illustrated in Fig.2.2 (c). The eigenvector of dominant
mode has a peak at station #2, and mountains in the dominant eigenvector are illustrated in
Fig.4.3 (a): the original station group #0~#8 corresponds to the first mountain in the figure,
and the followings are illustrated in blue rosaries. The eigenvalue of the rosary network is
shown in Fig.2.2 (a): The #64 eigenvalue of 2.773 corresponds to the dominant mode. The 2nd
mode has negative largest eigenvalue. The mode competition among these modes in
nonlinear multimodal Markov transition is discussed in section 4.
This rosary network has no real world so that it is difficult to show the substructure
analysis. Next we discuss a actual rosary network.
29
tsubomap
Fig. 2.1. Rosary network model suitable for analyzing railway systems.
30
The main issue is the extraction of an authentic centre (Tokyo, Shinbashi, Shinagawa) and a
new metropolitan centre (Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Shibuya). The later corresponds to the centre
and the outskirts of Edo as shown Fig.3.1 (b).
31
(http://onjweb.com/netbakumaz/edomap/edomap.html)
It is interesting that the dominant mode #733 extracts the central structure of business and
government of Metropolitan Tokyo. This area also corresponds to the main structure in Edo
metropolitan area. (Tokyo was called Edo in 18th century.)
32
Left: Degree distribution, Middle left: dominant mode; Shinagawa (8), Shinbashi (11), Tokyo (13);
Middle right: second mode: Shinjuku (0), Shibuya (3),Ikebukuro(25) Right: List of eigenvalues
The study of the Kohoku Newtown project is an old graduation thesis of our laboratory,
when a different definition of transition matrix was used in Markov transition (Ozeki, 2009).
Fig.3.3 (a) denotes the eigenvector of the 200th eigenmode of Tokyo Metropolitan Railway
system. It consists of three station groups, named Azamino / Nagtsuda group (Denentoshi
line), Shin-yokohama group (Yokohama line) and Kikuna / Ohkurayama group (Toyokyu line).
Those are excited coherently and simultaneously in the same phase, as shown in Fig.3.3 (a)
A speculation suggests that a zone, encircled by three lines, might be successfully developed
as a triangle business park. It is our great surprise to find that the Kouhoku Newtown
project was promoted from 1965 to 1996, exactly in this zone. Fig.3.3 (b) denotes the
33
railway network map of the project, which shows Az for Azamino and Sy for Shinyokohama.
Nagatusuda marked by Na was not recognized as key stations of the Newtown, but presently
Yokohama city plans includes it as the Yokohama Silicon valley: It is well known that
Nagatsuda includes the campus of Tokyo Institute of Technology. This network analysing
engine points out the importance of Nagatsuda to provide TIT as Stanford University of
Silicon valley.
Unfortunately, the network graph, used hitherto, does not include the Blueline subway that
is one of the main constructions in the Kouhoku Newtown project. In next, we will discuss
the evaluation of Blueline project.
(a) The eigenvector #200 coherently excited (b) Kohoku Newtown Project:Kohoku Newtown encircled
by the #200 eigenmode:Sy=Shin-Yokohama, Ok=Ohkura yam, Az=Azamino
(http://www.yk.rim.or.jp/~harujun/ntown/ntftr.html.)
34
(1)
In this expression, the nonlinear term (qi )n ( q j )n might be recognized as like button: in
case of the state (qi )n of node #i having the same sign with (qi )n , the transition probability
from node j to i increases when the nonlinear coefficient is positive. In other words, like
button is a tool to express our personal opinion that controls routing of information in
Facebook. It might be reasonable that nonlinear phenomenon in rush hours is recognized as
SPM because most of passengers in rush hours have more sharp intention to reach their
destinations.
The other is called XPM (Cross Phase Modulation) that is equivalent to curious
bystanders, that is, the transition probability to a node having many curious bystanders
increases. It is shown mathematically as following:
Fig. 3.4. Eigenvector Variation due to the Blueline.:(a) Node Entropy Change due to
Blueline. (d) Evolution of Hodogaya Traffic Customers. Operation of Blueline was 1999.
35
(qi )n 1 Ai , j (q j )n (1 Ai , k Ai , m ( q k )n ( qm )n )
In this expression, the nonlinear term
(2)
k ,m
Ai , k Ai ,m (qk )n (qm )n
k ,m
curious bystander because the transition probability from node j to i increases when
(q k )n (qm )n is positive. In other words, XPM expresses Birds with a feather flock together.
To make our intention of introduction of SPM and XPM clear, we show their import
differences in network dynamics:
Final target is discussion of mode competition between the authentic centre and the new
growing metropolitan centre. And the third-order non-linear interaction is inevitable to
show that the largest three stations are those in the new growing metropolitan region in
Metropolitan Tokyo.
4.1 Emergence of instability
It seems better to introduce Emergence in the small rosary network discussed in session 2,
before we discuss more complicated Metropolitan Tokyo railway system. Fig.4.1 illustrates the
temporal variation of mode probability (the squared mode amplitude) of the nonlinear Markov
transition based on Eq.4.1 applied to the small rosary network shown in Fig.2.2. The initial
condition is a random distribution of node probability amplitude. SPM with medium 0.1
leads to the dominant mode as the stationary state of the rosary network. It should be noted that
the right panel illustrates the temporal variation of the mode amplitudes: The 2nd and 3rd order
modes have negative eigenvalues so that the mode amplitudes change their sign at each
Markov transition. The dominant mode having positive eigenvalue does not oscillate.
Left diagram indicates mode probability (squared mode amplitudes) and the right diagram denotes the
temporal variation of mode amplitudes.
Fig. 4.1. Temporal variation of modes in SPM nonlinear Markov transition from random
mode amplitude distribution as initial condition.
36
The light panel denotes the temporal variation of mode amplitudes. The middle panel denotes the
temporal variation of mode probabilities. The right panel denotes two phase of probability
amplitude.(the red race inverted in sign for clearness.)
Fig. 4.3. (a) Sustainable oscillation between two groups of nodes (b) Average probability
distribution
37
However, it should be noted that there are many intuitive samples of oscillations in the real
world. This oscillation has strong relation with the network controllability and stability .
These issues are discussed in Appendix C.
Since available data of the passenger flow analysis in Tokyo railway system are dairy data
average over a year, it is reasonable to use the average of probability distribution of Markov
transition approximation.
4.2 The largest three stations of Tokyo metropolitan railway
One of the targets is to extract outstanding patterns from huge network system: In linear
systems, the dominant mode corresponds to such an outstanding pattern. This
understanding coincides with that of the basic Google in which one assumes that passengers
in Tokyo railway system can be approximated as random walkers in the linear Markov
process. Its stationary state is the dominant mode.
The real world data, however, tell us that the largest three stations, in respect of passenger
number, are Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Shibuya: Shinjuku had 3.2 millions per a day as its
number of passengers, Ikebukuro 2.6 millions, and Shibuya 2.3 millions, in 2006. This pattern
does not coincide with the dominant mode.
We should overcome this discrepancy
First we introduce SPM Markov transition of Eq.4.1 to analyse the passenger distribution
pattern. The initial condition of probability amplitude is a uniformly random distribution
normalized by Euclidean norm. Fig.4.5 (a) depicts temporal variation of mode probability to
reach dominant mode. The passenger distribution obtained is shown in Fig.4-5 (b), that
corresponds to the authentic (political and business) centre of Tokyo: Shinbashi, Shinagawa
and Tokyo are the dominant stations.
38
Left: Temporal variation of mode amplitude, Middle: Two phase of oscillation. Right: Average
Probability Distribution.
The most basic assumption of the nonlinear Markov transition is the synchronous transition
among all of the nodes in the network. The probability amplitude of higher-order mode
varies in sign at nodes so that the superposition in transition causes complicated
interferences among various routes of transition.
These multiple path interference may cause oscillation and dominates dynamics of network
system. The multiple path interference may have relation with chromatic number in local
structure.
The possibility of sustainable oscillations, including relation of chromatic number, was
reported in the ICCS (International Conference of Complex System) in Boston, July 2011.
However, no experimental evidence is reported yet. (Ozeki, 2011)
39
40
Fig. 5.1. Reasonable correlations of point stimulus responses with station activities.
41
6. Conclusion
We demonstrate a new network analysis based only on network topology of Tokyo
Metropolitan Railway System. It is in highly abstractive and seems like a metaphor without
any rigorous physical approval. However, many of analysis seem to illustrate the truth of
railway system from abstractive viewpoint.
Rene Descartes wished all of the world could be described mathematically, then, as his first
step, the analytical geometry was innovated. Prigogine, the originator complex systems,
declared a new alliance between natural sciences and human sciences to solve global
issues of human beings.
Here, we report a tiny effort of topological analysis of railway systems in this context. It is
our wish to explore the horizon of our new mathematical platform as a tool for supporting
intuitive power of railway system designers.
The multimodal analysis based non-linear Markov transition approximation is still in its
dawn. There are the vast amounts of works unexplored for the future.
After the complex systems was originated by Ilya Prigogine from various foundations
including irreversibility and self-organization in nonlinear dynamics (Prigogine, 1996),
Barabasi introduced scale free networks for describing interaction between structures or
constituents of complex network systems (Barabasi2002). On the other hand, Brin and Page
simulated a web surfer by Markov transition through network linking web pages (Brin,
1998). Then they found with their surprise, in spite of personal inherence of the Page Rank,
that the web-network graph can rank the page importance mechanically by its dominant
eigenvector (Brin, 1998, Langville 2006). We were inspired from theses historical flows to
construct a multi-modal platform of Markov transition with nonlinear interaction for
analysing complex networks.
42
q n 1 A q n
(A1)
(A2),
43
where q n is the state vector at the nth transition step. The state vector is nomalized with
respect to the Euclidean norm|| A q n || after each transition step. This mathmatical idea
used in the power method assures the stablity and also assures the linear properties of the
Markov transition.
Furthermore, this idea lead us to read the state vector (qi )n as a probability amplitude. The
probability is defined by ( pi )n |( qi )n |2 for finding a random walker at the node i , because
the sum of probability ( pi )n over all nodes is normalized to unity as shown in Eq.A2.
The eigen-equation is A i( m ) m i( m ) where m is the eigenvalue of mode m , and
i( m ) is its eigenvector. The eigenvectors can be coincident with the asymptotic solution of
Eq.A2 in the power method.
7.4 Markov transition with weak non-linearity
j ,k
(A3)
44
p
BA Network (M=1)
gy
Trio Network(M=3)
Family Network
Topology
(ref. ICCS2006,id405)
Temporal Response
(Non-linear Markov)
Chromatic Number
Entropy
1.0
Degree Correlation
Clustering Coefficient
Asymptotic Exponent
2 or 3
-0.30
0
3
More than 3
1.9
2.0
-0.10
0
4
0.11
0.24
5
Morethan4
2.0
0.15
0.37
6
(A4)
The second is the mode entropy MEm that is defined by the sum of Shannon entropies over
all of nodes, that is,
MEm pi( m ) ln pi( m ) .
(A5)
The third is the network entropy that is defined by the sum of node (or mode) entropies
over all of nodes (or modes), that is,
(A6)
The network entropy is plotted by black line with diamonds in Fig.A.1, corresponding the
family network shown in Table A1.
45
The variety of topological parameters of the family network provides a possibility of better
approximation for a given network topology: We can approximate a network topology
generated by the family network growth mechanism, with selecting the size M of
constituent family randomly at the entry to meet its statistics, such as size of household
(Ozeki, 2009).
Red line denotes the degree correlation using Pearsons formula and Blue dotted line denotes the
clustering coefficient. Black line with diamonds denotes the network entropy with the right-hand scale.
46
(1)
(2)
(3)
(1)Eigenvalue (2) Mode amplitudes: Blue line denotes the dominant mode (#8) having eigenvalue of
2.853 Red line with circles denotes the mode amplitude of mode #9 having eigenvalue of 2.853
(3)Probability Distribution :Both of skew modes coincide.
The nonlinear Markov transition of Eq.A.3 can be converted to the description of the
nonlinear interaction of mode amplitudes for getting clearer image, as the following:
( am )n 1 m ( am )n
m m im im im ( am )n ( am )n
(A7),
i , m , m
where the modes are defined by the linear adjacency matrix. It should be noted that the
equivalency of Eq.A.3 and Eq.A.4 is limited only for the case of very weak non-linearity
considered.
The transient response of the network having the skew degeneracy shows the sustainable
oscillation in the nonlinear Markov transition as shown in the second row of Table A.1. The
initial conditions are the modes with the negative largest eigenvalue. The skew mode pair
survives in mode competition so that the random walker continues to commutate between
two states that are the superposed states of the skew degenerate modes with in-phase and
out-of-phase, respectively. The two states correspond to the group of the black and the red
nodes in the BA network, so that the random walker commutes between the node groups
of red and black.
Fig.A.3.2 illustrates these situations clearly; the probability amplitude distribution is given
by (qi )n ( am )n i( m ) , that corresponds to the superposition of two competing modes #8
m
and #9 illustrated in Fig.A.3.2 (2): The mode amplitude ( a9 )n in red of Fig.A.3.2 (1) continues
to oscillate between 1 / 2 and 1 / 2 whereas ( a8 )n in blue grows up to 1 / 2 so that
the superposition of two competing modes corresponds to red line of in-phase and blue line
of out-of-phase as shown in Fig.A.3.2 (2).
47
The node patterns illustrated by red and blue lines coincide with the chromatic groups
shown in the first row of Table A.1.
On the other hand, the family networks with M 3 show quicker transition to the stationary
state corresponding to the dominant mode, as shown in the second row of Table A.1.
It is shown the following; the topology dependent instability dominates the temporal
response in controlling the network system so that the network topology determines the
dependability of the system, in a sense.
1 (2 M 2 A 1)
( k A)
( M A)
( k M 2 A 1)
2
(A10)
The network dynamics such as stability of the network system depends on the topology of
the network system. Family network series gives us typical dynamics variations, as shown
in TableA.1, as a reference. These understanding seem helpful to design network such as
railway system.
So far there is no experimental evidence showing these transient behaviours of networks
yet, but we can imagine several examples intuitively as follow:
a BA network with 100 nodes is illustrated in Fig.A.4.1 (1). The node # 0, and #1 and #2 are
larger hubs. We might assume it as an ancestry of a family struggle, or an organization map
just after consolidation of three small consanguineous companies. This topology consists of
26 pairs of skew degenerate modes and shows sustainable oscillation from an initial
condition of random probability amplitude distribution as shown in Fig.A.4.1 (2). This
might correspond to longer periods of struggles or troubles in this network system.
An intuitive method to prevent these troubles is to span a new link between two hubs, node
#1 and #2 as shown in Fig.A.4.1 (3). This method is confirmed to be effective to convert the
sustainable oscillation to quicker transition to stable state, by the non-linear Markov
transition simulation, as shown in Fig.A.4.1 (4).
48
(1)
(2)
(1) mode amplitude ( a9 )n in red and ( a 8 ) n in blue, (2) the state amplitude of superposition.
Fig. A.3.3. In-Phase and Out-of-Phase Superposition of Skew Degenerate Mode Pair
49
(1)
(2)
Mode amplitude
family1c+1
0.5
a n 98
a n 99
0.5
20
40
n
steps
(3)
(4)
(1) BA network with 100 nodes, (2) Sustainable oscillation of skew degenerate mode pair, (3)
Topological improvement by connecting #1 and #2, (4) The topological improvement can convert the
sustainable oscillation to quicker transition to stable state.
50
11. References
Agrawal ,G.P,(1989)Nonlinear Fiber Optics, Academic Press, San Diego.
Barabasi,A. L.,Albert, R. and Jeong, H.(1999) Mean field theory of scale free random
networks, Physica A.272,173.
Barabasi, A. L, and Albert, R. (2002) Emeregence of scaling in random networks,
Science286, 509.
Barabasi, A. L, (2002)Linked, Penguin Group, New York
Buchanan, M. (2002) Nexus, W.W. Norton & Company Ltd., New York.
Brin, S. and Page, L. (1998) The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual Web search
engine,Computer Networks and ISDN Systems,33:107-17,1998
Erdos, P. and Renyi, A.(1960) Publ.Math. Inst.Acad.Sci.5, 17.
Dorogovtsev, S. N, Mendes J F and Samukhin, A. N. (2000) Structure of growing networks
with preferential linking. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 4633-4636 (2000).
Dyson, F.J.(1953)The Dynamics of a Disordered Linear Chain., Phys.Rev.Vol.92,No.6,
1331.
Haken, H. (1978) Synergetics, An Introduction. Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions and SelfOrganization in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Springer, Berlin.
Horiike, H.(2000), private communication.
Granovetter, M.(1973) The strength of weak ties., American Journal of Sociology, 78,13601380.
Langville, A and Mayer, C, (2006) Googles PageRank and Beyond. Princeton University
Press, Princeton and Oxford.
Newman, M., Barabasi, A.L. and Watts, J. (2006)The structure and Dynamics of Networks
Princeton Univ.Press.
Ozeki,T.,and Kudo,T.,(2009) Invited paper,IEICE Technical Report,A Proposal of Network
Evaluation Method and Its Applications vol.109 , no.220 , IN2009 -65, PN200924,pp13-21.
Ozeki,T.(2006) http://necsi.org/events/iccs6/viewpaper.php?id=405 We found a mistake
in session 2 of our Evolutional family networks generated by group-entry growth
mechanism with preferential attachment and their features., The International
Conference on Complex Systems, id 405,Boston. The asymptotic exponent should
be read as M+A+1
Ozeki,T.(2010), Multimodal Analysis of Complex Network-Point stimulus response
depending on its location in the network- Knowledge Discovery and Information
Retrieval 2010, Valencia, Spain,2010.
Prigogine,I .(1996) The end of certainty, The Free Press, London
Soramaki, K, Bech, M L, Arnold, J, Glass, R J and Beyeler, W E, (2007)The topology of
interbank payment flows, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications Vol
379, Issue 1, June 2007, pp 317-333.
Tsujii,S.(1983), Transmission Circuits, Colona Publication Inc. Tokyo.
Watts, D. J. and Strogatz, S. H.(1998),Collective dynamics of small-world Networks,
Nature 393,440-442.
3
Privatization Versus Public Funding on the
Atacama Desert Railway An Interpretation
Jose Antonio Gonzalez-Pizarro
52
England by James Shanks and introduced by Santiago Humberstone in the sodium nitrate
industry, along with the demand for locomotives and wagons made in Europe, opened a
new positivistic reading of the desert (Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2009).
Geography and scientific knowledge influenced the design of railway communication. We
must remember that this geographic knowledge, including its maps, has its landmark in the
explorations of Rodolfo A. Philippi, a German scientist hired by the Chilean government to
travel in the desert from 1853 to 1854. His conclusions contained a certain geographic
determinism: it is extremely difficult, not to say impossible, to build railways or electric
telegraphs in the desert the many ravines, 150 to 200 m deep, that constantly cut through
the current road these ravines would be avoided by a line located further west, but no
water would be found in it (Philippi, 2008: 132). Philippi added that important findings
related to mining wealth could change his assumptions. This geographic conditioning of the
desert considered the worlds most arid remained as a barrier that would demand more
accurate topographic studies since it would be affected by the presence of phenomena
resulting from the climate, such as camanchaca, the optical illusion that made man be lost in
this huge space. The Chilean government sponsored other studies of the desert, in both the
middle plateau, as entrusted to the French geographer Pedro A. Pissis, and along the coast
to its Navy Captain, Francisco Vidal-Gormaz in the 1870s, before the war. The increase of
geographic knowledge became outstanding in Alejandro Bertrands (Bertrand, 1885) and
Francisco San Romns work in the Atacama Desert Exploration Commission (San Romn,
1896). The physical description, mapping, mining potentiality studies, and fundamental
toponymy of the desert were Bertrands and San Romans main contributions.
Thanks to San Romans effort, scientific work could show that the Atacama desert
nomenclature had narrowed regarding the colonial territory. In his work Desierto y
Cordilleras de Atacama (1896), he established a close relation between what was
understood as the Atacama desert and what was known from the towns and industries
established in the plateau:
The long stretch of Chilean territory running from the wild valley of Huayco to the nitrate
pampas where the Loa river runs, encompassing between both extreme borders in all
Chiles width, which extends from the Pacific coast to the Andes crest, is what was properly
taken as the Atacama Desert until the beginning of this century. This denomination has been
more and more restricted to the north as general progress and mining findings were
populated or made exploration in this territory accesible, founding towns and creating
industries in them. However, as a mere geographic title and, above all, as significant of an
arid zone and production exclusively due to the mineral kingdom, traditions and customs
still keep that denomination for all the territory that includes two Chilean provinces today,
Atacama and Antofagasta (San Romn, 1896: III-IV).
The geographic knowledge and naming of ravines, mountains, and other territory accidents
made it possible to conquer the land. Lets say that the Antofagasta-Bolivia Railway
Company (A.B.R.C or F.C.A.B, for its acronym in Spanish) was a reference for Santiago
Astronomy Observatory until 1910 to localize parallels 23 and 24 south latitude in the
Antofagasta province hinterland.
The expansion of the Atacama desert railways shows that they were connected to nitrate
findings in 1866 and silver in 1870, when the territory was divided in terms of sovereigneity.
53
The Ceasefire Agreement between Chile and Bolivia in 1866 and 1874 moved the border to
parallel 24 S latitude: Chile owned the land to the south and Bolivia to the north, as long as
we are interested in noting, without putting emphasis on articles regarding customs rights
or the absence of taxes to Chilean nitrate activity during 25 years. This situation would
change as a result of the Pacific War, 1879-1883, in which Chile took over the territory in
dispute (Lagos-Carmona, 1981; Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2005).
The geographic sector for the main railway activity was the one connecting MejillonesAntofagasta axis to the hinterland, where the main nitrate mines are located (the central or
Bolivian canton) with a northeast orientation, that is, the interconnection among Carmen
Alto nitrate mine, Salinas station, Caracoles mine currently located in Sierra Gorda county
- and the extension to Calama, where the network was expanded to connect with Bolivia.
The beginning of the railway in this area mixes unsuccesful projects, proposals accepted but
not implemented, and outlines that became real. In 1872, the French explorer Andr Bresson
(Bresson, 1997: 180) stated that the railway would change a five-day long and deadly
journey from the coast to Potosi by a comfortable five-hour one. Exactly so, the Atacama
desert, in being dominated by mining techniques and the introduction of the railway
became, from a naturalistic-deterministic nature under a colonial perspective, a nature
viewed from a pragmatic-utilitarian optics (Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2008).
The exploitation of Mejillones manure and Cobija commercial activity stimulated Bolivia to
do a public bid to build a railway connecting Cobija and Calama during Jorge Cordobas
administration in 1856. This, along with other projects such as Gibbsons and Arrietas in
September 1863 to build a railway to Mejillones, or Roberto Browns in August 1868 to build
a railway from Cobija to Potosi, were projects discussed in La Paz government, but did not
turn out successful. It is important to highlight Avelino Aramayos project presented in
1861: Connection of the Pacific Ocean and some point in Bolivia with Mejillones railway,
which would be supported by the government in 1863. Aramayo would get a loan in
London by being a partner of Mr. Samuel Morton-Petto-Barnett and Mr. Edward LadolBetts, based on a study of the German engineer Hugo Reck, giving Mejillones manure
companies as a guarantee. Avelino Aramayos partners broke in 1871, the Bolivian
government keeping its interest in the route starting in Mejillones. So, they made a bid for
this purpose in the same year. Twenty-seven projects were put forward, but none of them
was successful, including Gustavo Bordess and partners and that of Jos Manuel Brown,
Marcial Martinez, and Enrique Meiggs (Bravo, 2000:53-58). According to Gomez-Zubiela,
another Aramayos project had been passed by the government through a resolution passed
on May 22, 1872. This fact would be the obstacle for the famous railway constructors
appearing during Melgarejos government, Milbourne Clark and Carlos Watson, among
them. The suspension of the railway construction in 1874 affected the whole mining and
commercial area (Gomez-Zubiela, 1999; Perez, 1997). It was the time of the great Caracoles
silver ore deposit discovery in 1870, so that Mejillones railway could connect this small port
to this small place and its mines. However, Aramayos project sponsored by La Paz
government became an obstacle for other projects such as the concession requested by
Milbourne Clark & Co. on January 14, 1873, for a Mejillones-Caracoles railway, or by Felipe
Iturriche to connect Cobija and Calama in March 1873 (Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2010: 919).
The big British investments in the nitrate industry, along with the Chilean ones, would
influence the de facto orientation of railway policies. Milbourne Clark & Co., created on
March 19, 1869, was funded by Chilean capitals - Jose Santos Ossa, Francisco Puelma,
54
Agustin Edwards - and British investments - Milbourne Clark, George Laborer, and Casa
Gibbs from Valparaso. The official negation to Milbourne Clark & Co. did not prevent it
from continuing with its railway project, changing its beginning from Antofagasta to its
hinterland. Under the name Nitrate Company and Antofagasta Railway established in
October 1872, its railway arrives at Salar del Carmen on December 1, 1873; Salinas in 1877;
Pampa Central in 1881; and Pampa Alta in 1883. At this time, it was estimated that the
railway construction from Antofagasta, the establishment of the big nitrate treatment plant
in this port, and manure exhaustion would result in the abandonment of the Mejillones
railway (Mandiola & Castillo, 1894: 3vta). The consequences of the Mejillones-Caracoles
railway failure affected its workers negatively due to the high transport costs resulting from
operations with the Antofagasta railway company (Bravo, 2000). For Bowman, the future of
the Antofagasta port was determined by the railway construction (Bowman, 1924: 81).
2. The appearance of the Atacama desert railway giant: The Antofagasta and
Bolivia Railway Company Ltd.
The thriving nitrate activity in the Antofagasta province was slowed down at the south of
parallel 24 after the war because of the government tax legislation that favored Tarapaca
and affected the economic activities of the zone (Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2009a). At that time, the
ideology of political liberalism prevailed in Chile, thus being reflected in economic policies,
which would influence concessions to foreign companies.
At the beginning of the 1870s, Huanchaca Company had been established in Bolivia with the
participation of Chilean investors, Melchor Concha y Toro, among others and Bolivians such
as Aniceto Arce, all of them interested in the exploitation of silver from Pulacayo and
Huanchaca. The ceasefire between Chile and Bolivia in 1884 again brought under discussion
the mining production export from Huanchaca via Calama to Antofagasta port. Economic
interests, mainly in mining, became powerful in outlining new railways.
Blakemore suggests that at the beginning of 1887, the Nitrate Co. and Antofagasta Railway
had sold its railway and other rights to Huanchaca Company (Blakemore, 1996: 49).
Nevertheless, the first Antofagasta Railway Co. Report shows 1886 as the exact date and
gives details about the contribution to the merger between Nitrate Co. and Huanchaca Co.,
more particularly regarding the amount corresponding to the railway: 2,600,000 pesos
distributed in: Permanent Rails: 1,600,000 pesos; Rolling Stock: 740,000 pesos, Antofagasta
Machine Shop: 150,000 pesos; Dock: 50,000 pesos; and Antofagasta Real Estate: 60,000 pesos,
according to Gomez-Zubiela.
The merger between Antofagasta Nitrate Co. and Huanchaca Co. gave rise to the most
important and trascendental railway company of the Atacama desert on November 28, 1888:
The Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Company Ltd. (A.B.R.C), legalized by the Chilean government
on April 2, 1889 and the Bolivian Congress on December 8, 1888. The demands of the preandean
topography made engineering work essential in order to overcome natural barriers. This was
done by the English engineer Josiah Harding who, between 1883 and 1887, lay the rails from
Pampa Alta to Ascotan lake, the bridge reaching 3,956 m.a.s.l. It was November 1883. The
famous Conchi duct was in operation until 1918, when a similar one was built (Greve, 1944:
507). The newly established town of Uyuni in Bolivia received the first engine from the brand
new company on October 30, 1889. The railway extension from Antofagasta to Oruro on May
15, 1892, under Arces government, also stimulated the modernizing boom process of the
55
Bolivian city, together with tin exploitation. It was even stated that civilization was measured in
railway kilometers (Mendieta-Parada, 2006: 211). Liberalism years in Bolivia had led to a huge
influence of British capitals on the railway network and the connection of the railway with the
Pacific Ocean, where Playa Blanca Metallurgical Installations was located, connected to
Huanchaca Co. built between 1888 and 1892 and in operation until 1902 (Ahumada, 1999; Mitre,
1981; Calderon, 2003). The disappearance of Huanchaca Co. let Antofagasta-Oruro railway
under the administration of only the A.B.R.C. in 1903. It is important to note that the arrival of
the railway at Calama influenced work usually done by mule packs and alfalfa pasture grounds
dedicated to cart transport in the nitrate pampa (Nuez, 1992).
The prowess of extending the railway from Antofagasta to Bolivia is also shown in the
various railway stations that had to be built along its way:
Km from
Antofagasta
0
4
14
21
29
Altitude
35
561
48
59
70
83
96
109
117
120
122
573
682
783
893
1,014
1,164
1,231
1,279
1,285
128
1,341
133
136
1,369
1,383
144
1,414
148
154
162
170
179
205
238
269
299
312
340
360
387
412
435
1,431
1,470
1,534
1,623
1,727
2,142
2,265
2,641
3,015
3,223
3,772
3,955
3,729
3,692
3,696
34
60
295
408
554
RailwayBranches
Stations
Antofagasta
Playa Blanca
Sgto.Aldea
La NegraArranque hacia cantn A. Blancas
Portezuelo
OHigginsOf.Savona,Pissis y
Domeyko Arranque hacia Boquete.
Uribe
Prat
Latorre
Cuevitas
BaquedanoOf.Ercilla,Astoreca,J.F.Vergara
Cerrillos
El BuitreOf.Sgto.Aldea.
Santa Rosa
Carmen Alto Of.F.Puelma,Condell, Celia
Salinas Of.Lastenia,Aurelia,Carmela
Blanco Encalada.
PeinetaOf.Ausonia, Cecilia
CentralOf.A.Edwards.
UninOf.Anita,Candelaria,Luisis
Angamos, Araucana.
PlacillaOf.Mara, Curic
SolitarioOf.Filomena, Perseverancia
La NoriaOf.Aconcagua
Sierra Gorda Arranque para Caracoles
Cochrane
Cerritos Bayos
CalamaA Chuquicamata y El Abra
Cere
Conchi
San Pedro
Polapi
Ascotn
Cebollar
San Martn
OllageA Collahuasi
56
Altitudes referring to railway stations close to the Chile-Bolivia border demanded hiring
qualified manpower that attracted Bolivian immigration (Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2008a).
The railway hired many technical and non-technical workers and was not far from the
problems between capital and work, proper of political liberalism and the so-called local
social matter. As Blakemore states, A.B.R.C. hired manpower, clearly distinguishing the
laborer segment (heads of gang, boatmen, port loaders, firemen, trackwalkers, and service
personnel) from employees, who enjoyed a higher social status (railway station chiefs,
foremen, inspectors and office personnel) (Blakemore, 1996: 155).
Some specific facts hurt the companys reputation in the regional community. Indeed, there
was criticism regarding its operations because wagons used to run off the rails and put
workers safety in risk due to lack of personnel or victimization affecting men who built
Pampa Alta railway station telegraph line, as dennounced by the local newspaper La Maana
on October 1, 1902. Although the railway company contributed to the city with the creation of
a Fire Department, Bomba Ferrocarril, in September 1902, its expansion in the province, such
as the petition of land in Mejillones at the end of 1903, was criticized in the National Congress.
However, when the government asked engineer Emilio de Vidts to study Mejillones opening
in 1905, A.B.R.C. started its greatest investment: The construction of Mejillones machine shop,
considered South Americas greatest one, with a 300-house camp (Panades, 1990)
The most complex social situation affecting The Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Co. Ltd was the
rejection to the petitionary on January 29, 1906, through which the so-called Mancomunal
Obrera de Antofagasta representing the laborers of the main companies in the city, including
the railway, requested one hour and a half for lunch. This request was accepted by all
companies, except the English A.B.C.R. administration. The boatmen and Orchard Industry
and Smelter workers supported the railway laborers. The strike committee called for a meeting
on Febrary 6; while the government sent naval forces and the A.B.R.C administration provided
foreigners with guns. Bishop Luis Silva-Lezaetas eclesiastic mediation was not accepted by
the company. The strike ended in a laborers massacre in Colon Square on February 6, 1906.
Two days after, under the pressure of the news, the National Congress passed the first social
law: the law of housing for laborers (Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2009b)
The importance of A.B.R.C. in the zone was enormous, particularly when the Peace and
Friendship Treaty between Bolivia and Chile was signed in 1904. On the one hand, the
treaty stated that the Atacama desert, which was part of the Antofagasta province, would
belong to Chile and, on the other hand, Chile would have to build a railway to connect Arica
and La Paz, along with allowing free transport from the altiplanic country to Pacific ports.
The Antofagasta-Oruro railway perfectly met the requirements stated in the treaty. If, for
Bolivia, The Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Co. Ltd. was so important due to railway policy
control, obtaining advantages for mineral exports and mechandise imports (Aramayo, 1959;
Gmez Zubiela, 1999, Informe, 1959), what was observed in Antofagasta regional economy
was as important. Three issues were controversial for Antofagasta and Calama City Halls
and mining companies: water supply and its cost for consumers, real estate valuation, and
the price for transporting cargo and passengers.
Water supply in the desert was essential for productive activities and also for the feasibility of
the railway company since it used steam engines. The problem was the monopoly concerning
water rights and its distribution to the urban cities and insdustries in the nitrate pampa.
57
Huanchaca Co. had purchased the water rights owned by Enrique Villegas, an entrepreneur
and regional politician, in 1887. For this reason, when Huanchaca Co. transferred its rights to
The Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Co. Ltd., it was not only connected to railway materials, but
also to its water rights. In addition, a law passed on January 21, 1888, allowed Huanchaca Co. to
provide the city of Antofagasta and other territories that can be supplied by the Loa River with
tap water (Anguita, 1912: 64-65). Also, Huanchaca could extend the time to do the necessary
work for supplying Antofagasta with water. By a law passed on September 23, 1890, the
deadline was extended until October 1, 1892. But it was not known that Huanchaca had become
The Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Co. Ltd in 1889. In this way, a situation similar to Tarapaca,
concerning John T. Norths activities, arose during Balmacedas government, that is, the direct
or indirect monopoly of natural resources, nitrate and water, railway control, or what historian
Hernan Ramrez-Necochea would call, the danger of northification (Ramirez, 2007: 81). When
travelling to Antofagasta in March 1889, Balmaceda visited some railway stations of the central
network and promised the expropriation of all private railways in the whole Republic
(Sagredo, 2001: 144), something probably expressed at the warmth of welcome in every
northern City Hall, but these ideas, as many others, did not come true (Blakemore, 1991).
A.B.R.C. tap water supply included industries, nitrate mines at special prices, and the cities of
Antofagasta and Calama, among others. The water price and mainly free supply to public
services were the focus of a permanent struggle between the company and the Antofagasta
City Hall. By a decree on July 30, 1904, the company could use and enjoy Palpana waters and
then obtained the concession of Ujuna Grande, Puquios , and Siloli waters (Arce: 1930: 263).
In addition, it established a policy to fight for free water resources in favor of Antofagasta
public services and City Hall (Blakemore, 1996: 104). Antofagasta water supply was criticized
because of the tariff charged for houses and the government negation for allowing the
company to increase tariffs (Recabarren, 2002). This was a recurrent issue until the late 1960s.
The basic issue for Calama City Hall was the discrepancy between real estate and the
valuation established by A.B.R.C and the amount of tax to pay, an issue analyzed from 1915
to 1936 since it strongly affected the City Hall budget ( Mondaca, Segovia & Sanchez, 2011).
For mining activity, the basic issues were the railway breach with the liabilities agreed on
with nitrate companies, particularly Antofagasta Nitrate Co., the most important Chilean
company in this line of business until 1907. Among complaints detailed by Isaac Arce,
Pampa Alta administrator, in 1906 are: the towing machine service because its itinerary
affected work; the negation to transport workers; the demand for loading wagons in the
least possible time; the prohibition to use own cars in the railway; the transport of rails and
crossbeams by the nitrate company; placing switches and habilitating by-ways; storage and
wagon charges for transporting forage; and excess charges for transporting merchandise,
materials, coal, and gunpowder (Archivo, 1906).
The placement of nitrate company rails in the central canton, which finally reached the
railway, was hindered by the broad concession given to Milbourne Clark. Nevertheless,
since 1887 attempts had been made to build railways independent of A.B.R.C , such as the
one between Pampa Alta and San Pedro de Atacama in December 1887. In October 1893,
Carlos A. Watters is allowed to build a railway, taking kilometer 20 of the current A.B.R.C.
as a starting point. In August 1899, Enrique Barra made a request to build a steam engine
railway from Chuquicamata copper mine to Antofagasta-Bolivia railway, being approved in
December (Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2008).
58
In general, the nitrate companies of the central canton had to operate with A.B.R.C. to export
their production through Antofagasta port. Nitrate companies usually had private trains
inside their premises, between nitrate concessions and supply yards, using locomotives and
wagons. One of the most important companies, the Antofagasta Nitrate Co., was equipped
with 41 80-250 h.p. steam engines; 8 90-150 h.p. electric engines; 250 6m3 nitrate wagons; and
540 1-2 m3 nitrate wagons, apart form 470 other wagons, all of which shows a panorama of
the thriving activity in the desert (Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2003: 135).
The expansion of American capital, mainly Guggenheim Brothers, not only in Chuquicamata connected to Huanchaca Co. from 1899 until its shut-down -, but also in the powerful nitrate
industry, when purchasing Anglo-Chilean Nitrate Company and Lautaro Nitrate Company in the
1920s and 1930s, led to a better planning between A.B.R.C. and the railway stations in the
pampa and nitrate mines. Schedules allowed identifying railway stations and the type of
railway machinery in use. In 1929, A.B.R.C. took charge of all the nitrate railways, committing
to the conservation and repair of the existing ones. The railways became A.B.R.C. property and
nitrate companies agreed on a monthly pay for each crossing and meters run.
A.B.R:C. and Chile North Railway established a new train service in 1929 (Thompson, 2003).
Two mixed trains weekly covered the distance between Baquedano and El Toco and viceversa
so as to give better service to nitrate mine inhabitants. The trains stopped in Baquedano to
make connections with passenger trains travelling between Mejillones and Calama. In this
way, passengers could arrive at Antofagasta at 3 p.m. In addition, passengers travelling to
Baquedano sorroundings could make different combinations to move throughout the pampa
and railway stations until arriving at Calama since a direct train to this city was available.
In the mid-1931, A.B.R.C changed the train schedule to Calama, affecting the itinerary of the
train running downward, which was scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
This made Lautaro Nitrate organize its own transport service for mail and workers transport.
To have an impression of the railway service and how it connected different places in the
nitrate pampa, lets take a look at the schedule in 1929:
DOWNWARD
TRIP
UPWARD TRIP
Railway stations
Antofagasta
Baquedano
La Rioja
Deseada
Railway
Train 84
Stations
Monday & Friday
Arrival
Departure
Train 83
Sunday & Thursday
Arrival
Departure
---9:35
---13:45
15:01
15:05
16:01
16:20
Los Dones
16:43
17:00
Lynch
B. Astoreca y
Los Dones
Miraje
Chacance
Toco
17:18
17:32
Toco
Chacance
Miraje
B. Astoreca y
Los Dones
Lynch
---8:02
8:26
7:00
8:07
8:31
18:02
18:05
Los Dones
9:48
9:56
18:29
18:57
20:12
18:40
19:10
---
Deseada
La Rioja
Baquedano
Antofagasta
10:15
11:10
12:05
15:04
10:20
8:59
9:01
9:35
9:36
-------
59
Changes made in May 1931 did not greatly affect schedules in the nitrate mines, but they
highlighted the importance of Salinas railway station for mixed trains, both regular and
special, and also the internacional train.
So, on Monday, the regular mixed train went up to Salinas at 1:15 p.m. and down to the
same railway station at 11:15 a.m., following the usual itinerary; on Tuesday, the regular
mixed train did not go up, but went down to the station at 11: 15 a.m.; while the
international train went up at 1: 15 a.m., making connections between Salinas and Union
stations; on Wednesday, the regular mixed train went up at 1:15 p.m. and did not go
down, following the usual itinerary; the mixed train from Calama went down on this day
and the international train went down, arriving at 6:20 p.m., making the connection
above. On Thursday, there were no trains going up and down. On Friday, the regular
mixed train did not go up, but 11:15-a.m. train went down, following the usual itinerary;
the international train made a stop at Salinas at 11:15 a.m., making the usual connection.
On Saturday, the regular mixed train went up at 1:15 p.m. and did not go down; the
international train passed by Salinas at 6:20 p.m. On Sunday, only the regular mixed train
ran, making a stop at Salinas at 1:15 p.m., when going up, and at 11:15 a.m., when going
down (Archivo Historico, 1929).
International train trips from Antofagasta to Bolivia underwent difficulties when making a
stop at Salinas station. Complaints included passengers delay and change of second-class
wagons from the mixed train arriving from Calama to add them to the international train.
An service of auto-gondolas (small old buses) with a capacity of about 25 passengers from
Mara Elena and Chacabuco nitrate mines was the only means for arriving at Salinas
station.
The American administrators of Chuquicamata copper ore deposit signed an agreement
with A.B.R.C. to use the railway for exporting the metal resource to international markets.
The Chuquicamata train inaugurated in 1914 was connected to the main A.B.R.C. branch.
The so-called Chuquicamata branch started from San Salvador station located to the north of
Calama and arrived at Punta de Rieles, in a 10-km trip. In addition, A.B.R.C. built Conchi
Viejo- El Abra branch in 1906 with a 19-km length to give service to the copper and silver
exploitations existing to the north of Calama (Thomson-Angerstein, 1997; Castro 1984). The
company profits depended on production levels which, in turn, depended on the copper
pound quotation in the London stockmarket. However, Chile Exploration Company, the
American company exploiting Chuquicamata mine, established The Chile Exploration Co.
Railway to connect Chuquicamata and San Salvador, providing electricity in 1925. The first
Chuquicamata general manager, Fred Hellman, built a railway inside the mine to transport
materials and workers. It remained active until the appearance of big trucks in the early
1950s ( Monterrey, 2009).
In the 1970s, The Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway Co.Ltd. was involved in the difficulties
affecting the Chilean politics and economics, until purchased by the Chilean
entrepreneur with Croatian ancestors, Andronico Luksic, at the end of 1979 (Blakemore,
1996). In the 1980s, the frequency of the international train was once a week. At present,
its acivities focus on commerce to and from Bolivia, along with CODELCO copper
shipping.
60
61
Coloso-Aguas Blancas railway history is one of the most intricate of the type. Since 1880,
nitrate people had been asking the government the construction of a railway for Aguas
Blancas nitrate mines and were fighting for an extension of what had been accepted for
Juan Besterrica, Juan Vera, and Francisco Mirada to build the rails for a steam train
between Antofagasta and Aguas Blancas (Rojas, 1883). In January 1884, the Congress
discussed a railway from Antofagasta to Aguas Blancas since the previous one had been
rejected. In 1896, Rafael Barazarte was given permission to build a railway between
Paposo and Desierto ore deposit. In 1886, Arturo Prat Mining Co. and Taltal Railway Co.
received the approval to build a railway between the port and the companys mining
installations. On the next year, they were allowed to extend the railway to Cachinal.
This issue was again dealt with in August 1889 by J. Phillips in order to build a steam
railway between these two places. On September 1, 1897, approval was given to Jose
Antonio Moreno to build and exploit a railway between Paposo and Desierto ore deposit
(Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2008: 37-38). But the most relevant railway connecting Aguas Blancas
nitrate mines was the one requested on November 28, 1898 by the firm Granja &
Domnguez, which would build a railway between Antofagasta and Aguas Blancas.
Permission was given a month later, the construction beginning in March 1899. Work
done in 1900 showed that the firm was not using Antofagasta piers, but the habilitation
of a site to the south of Antofagasta, a fact that revealed the firm strategy to avoid the
opposition of the City Hall, boatmen unions, and A.B.R.C. On January 1, 1902, Coloso
was ranked as a minor port. In March 1902, the railway connected Pepita nitrate mine
with Coloso. Carrizo, La Negra, and Varillas stations were built between Coloso and
Pepita. At Barazarte station, the branch to the east led to Yungay station with two
branches including 90% of the canton nitrate mines. To the SE, it led to Rosario nitrate
mine. The railway was open to the public for passenger transport. When Baltazar
Dominguez died in 1902, his heirs sold the railway and nitrate belongings to Matias
Granja. When this one died, Coloso-Aguas Blancas railway became involved in one of
the most commented scandals of the time, mixing business and politics, which in turn
involved the government at that time - 1907. This is what some authors have called the
famous affair of Granja house (Recabarren, Obilinovic, Panades, 1989: 61-67). Finally,
the transfer of the railway from Granja to W.R. Grace in 1908 ended in the railway being
in the hands of The Antofagasta (Chili) and Bolivia Railway Company Ltd. It was 1909. In this
way, all the private railways in the province were in the hands of English A.B.R.C.
capitals. The train continued operations as long as nitrate mines working with the
Shanks system could be profitable. In 1932, some branches were dismantled and it
definitely disappeared in 1961.
In the nitrate pampa, the mines operating with private trains ruled railway jobs. Each nitrate
mine had a Traffic Chief in charge of keeping the rails in good state and do necessary
repairs. He was the direct boss of the engine driver, whose main job was to keep the boiler
water at the right level and check the good state of all the engine keys and valves; firemen,
dedicated to keep the engine throroughly clean, manage fire, and burn the coal or oil; and
lastly, brakemen, in charge of taking care of the brakes of the train in motion. Railroad
workers worked in the rails. There were also the so-called engine starters in charge of the
lamps of trains in motion and lighting the engine fire at dawn. ( Macuer, 1930: 170-172;
Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2003:312-314).
62
63
The North Longitudinal Railway administration was transferred to A.B.R.C. in 1919 under
the name Chilian Northern, a situation that remained until October 1957, when the
government decided to transfer Chilian Northern to the State Railway Co., authorizing
A.B.R.C. to administrate it until May 1961. The most popular Atacama dersert train operated
until June 9, 1975.
The northern novelist Hernan Rivera-Letelier would strongly evoque the famous Longino in
his work Trains go to Purgatory.
64
But there was also another issue in this connectivity: the Chilean government authorization
for the construction of a new Antofagasta port based on Law N 2390, passed on September
7, 1910, which was fruitful in 1913 when the Port Commission reported the connectivity
Antofagasta natural attraction zone - of the Mejillones-Salta projected railway, which should
take advantage of the new installations in the future (Gonzalez-Pizarro, 2010).
This proposal was supported by citizens - laborers unions, political parties, and commercial
and industrial associations ; disseminated in Open City Hall Meetings; and also supported
by the establishment of the Salta Pro-Railway Executive Commission. Since April 5, 1920,
multitudinal meetings in the form of Open City Hall Meetings were organized in favor of the
proposal. For mayor Maximiliano Poblete-Cortes, the railway was of national conveniente
because it will help in the development of one of the countrys most important regions; it will
attract a big part of Argentinian commerce to the Pacific; and, therefore, there will be an
increase in freight and cargo for our merchant marine; some of our industries, such as the
nitrate one, will increase their production to fertilize land producing sugar cane, cotton, etc.
Other industries such as shoe-making, canned food, and maybe other ones will have a safe
market. Concerning regional coexistence, we believe no one can deny it. At present, the life
and progress of Antofagasta and the whole region are closely related to the development and
prosperity of nitrate and copper industries (Gonzalez-Pizarro, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2002).
The same response was given by Argentina, where a Pro-Pacific Railway Commission was
established in 1921, its director being Luis de los Rios. This commission organized various
acts that gave prestige and widely disseminated Salta populations mood. The railway
construction also lead to a geopolitical mistrust view from the military prism, while in
Antofagasta, civilians reaffirmed their conviction of the integration with the Argentinian
northeast (Benedeti, 2005).
Government actions from both sides led to the investment budget agenda agreed on by the
Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ernesto Barros Jarpa, and the Argentinian Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Chile, Carlos M. Noel, on April 25, 1922. The
project, however, could only be improved in 1928. In 1930, Argentina had already built the
railway from Salta to San Antonio de los Cobres. Finally, the railway was constructed in
Augusta Victoria station sector in 1937, after recovering from the 1930-1932 world crisis
(Thomson, 2003, 2006).
During the early 1940s, the government increased its contribution to speed up the railway
construction. Curiously enough, as stated by Alejandro Benedetti, the railway that had been
thought of by Argentina to improve the Andes Territory would arrive late, when the
territory had disappeared in 1943 to favor Salta, Jujuy, and Tucuman provinces. This was a
bad sign. The Chilean north still cherished hopes for the railway, months before being
inaugurated because, apart from the work of many people, the cost of living in the
northern provinces will be cheaper it will avoid the current supply difficulties and
complications due to the scarcity of cargo ships The railway does not only have an
economic mission, but it also takes the torch of progress, culture, mutual knowledge and,
therefore, peoples physical and spiritual welfare everywhere (Szigethy, 1948: 67-68).
On February 20, 1948, the President of Argentina, Juan D. Peron, inaugurated the railway in
the Argentinian sector, with the presence of Antofagasta Mayor, Juan de Dios Carmona.
65
In 1949, the Antofagasta-Salta railway was scheduled on a weekly basis, the journey taking
two days: the train included regular and buffet wagons. It started from Antofagasta on
Sunday and arrived at Salta on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, high transport costs, exceeded by truck competente in time, did not meet the
expectations of both regions. A.B.R.C. operated the railway, as contrated with the government
in the 1920s, and as stated by Ian Thomson, assigned old engines left over from other
operations to cargo trains (and) in the mid-1950s, assigned relatively modern steam engines for
passengers service (Thomson, 2006: 145) until 1964. In the 1960s, the State Railway Co.
started operations on the rails. At the end of 1970, passengers trips were cancelled. In 1990, it
was transferred to Ferronor S.A., a Production-Fostering Corporation (CORFO, for its acronym
in Spanish) company, privatized in 1996. At present, the railway operates only sporadically.
6. References
Ahumada, Mara T. 1999. El Establecimiento Industrial de Playa Blanca en Antofagasta.
Antofagasta: Ediciones Santos Ossa.
Anguita, Ricardo. 1912. Leyes promulgadas en Chile desde 1810 hasta el 1 de junio de 1913.
Santiago de Chile: Imprenta, Litografa i Encuadernacin Barcelona, Tomo III.
Aramayo, Cesreo. 1959. Ferrocarriles bolivianos. Pasado, presente y futuro. La Paz:
Imprenta Nacional.
Arce, Isaac. 1930. Narraciones Histricas de Antofagasta. Antofagasta: Imprenta Moderna.
Archivo Escuela de Derecho, Universidad Catlica del Norte. 1906. Archivo de Isaac Arce.
Carpeta varia Personal y Salitrera.
Archivo historico, Universidad Catlica del Norte. 1929. Archivo Salitrero Oficina Chacabuco:
Caja Medios de Transporte. Aos 1920-1939.Transporte y Comunicaciones. Circular
de la Administracin del F.C.A.B, Antofagasta, 29 de mayo de 1929.
Benedetti, Alejandro. 2005. El ferrocarril Huaytiquina, entre el progreso y el fracaso.
Aproximaciones desde la geografa histrica del territorio de los Andes, Revista
Escuela de Historia, Salta, enero-diciembre, N 4, 123-165. Disponible en
http://wwwscielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S166990412005000100007&ing=es&nrm=iso. Consulta el 14 de agosto de 2011.
Bertrand, Alejandro. 1885. Memoria sobre las cordilleras del desierto de Atacama i rejiones
limtrofes. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Nacional.
Blakemore, Harold. 1991. Nacionalismo frustrado? Chile y el salitre, 1870-1895 en Harold
Blakemore, Dos estudios sobre salitre y poltica en Chile (1870-1895). Editado por
Luis Ortega. Santiago de Chile. Departamento de Historia. Universidad de
Santiago de Chile.
Blakemore, Harold.1996. Historia del Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia 1888-1988.
Traduccin de Juan Ricardo Couyoumdjian y Beatrz Kase. Santiago de Chile:
Impresos Universitarios S.A.
Bowman, Isaiah. 1924. Desert Trails of Atacama. New York: American Geographical Society.
Braudel, Fernando, 1970. La historia y las ciencias sociales. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
Bravo Quezada, Carmen G. 2000. La Flor del Desierto. El mineral de Caracoles y su impacto
en la economa chilena. Santiago de Chile: Dibam, Lom Ediciones, Centro de
Investigaciones Diego Barros Arana.
Bresson, Andr. 1997 [1886]. Una visin francesa del Litoral Boliviano (1886). La Paz:
Stampa Grafica Digital.
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67
Gonzalez Pizarro, Jos A. 2009a. The province of Antofagasta. Creation and consolidation
of a new territory in Chile: 1888-1933, Revista de Indias. Madrid, Vol. LXX, N 249,
mayo-agosto, pp. 345-380.
Gonzalez Pizarro, Jos A. 2009b. La huelga/masacre de la Plaza Coln: 6 de febrero de 1906
en Antofagasta. Las lecciones para la historia en Pablo Artaza, Sergio Gonzlez
Miranda, Susana Jiles Castillo (Editores), A cien aos de la masacre de Santa Mara
de Iquique. Santiago: Lom Ediciones, pp. 211-239.
Gonzalez Pizarro, Jos A. 2010. La influencia de la legislacin municipal boliviana en
Antofagasta, 1879- 1888. Un captulo desconocido en la historia del derecho pblico
chileno, en Estudios en Honor de Bernardino Bravo Lira, Premio Nacional de
Historia. 2010. Revista Chilena de Historia del Derecho, Facultad de Derecho de la
Universidad de Chile, Nmero 22, Tomo II, 913-937.
Gonzalez Pizarro, Jos A. 2010. El Puerto Fiscal y la ciudad de Antofagasta en Liliana
Cordero Vitaglic, Coordinacin y Edicin, Historia Grfica del Puerto de
Antofagasta. Abril 1919-Agosto 1929. Antofagasta: Universidad Catlica del NorteGobierno de Chile, Gobierno Regional de Antofagasta- Consejo Regional- Consejo
Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes, Impresin Graficandes, pp. 9-27
Gonzalez Pizarro, Jos A. Ms. Geografa del desierto y turismo de la naturaleza. La revista
En Viaje y la mirada sobre el paisaje nortino: 1945-1966. En Revista de Geografa
Norte Grande, Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile, aceptado y a publicarse en
el nmero 52, septiembre de 2012.
Greve, Ernesto. 1944. Historia de la Ingeniera en Chile. Santiago de Chile: Imprenta
Universitaria, Tomo III.
Informe Econmico Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia. 1959. The Bolivia Railway
Company. Anexo. Un comentario del Dr. Humberto Fossati. Oruro: Universidad
Tcnica de Oruro. Departamento de Extensin Cultural.
Lagos C. Guillermo, 1981. Historia de la frontera de Chile. Los tratados de lmites con
Bolivia. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Andrs Bello.
Macuer Llaa, Horacio. 1930. Manual Prctico de los trabajos en la Pampa Salitrera.
Valparaso: Talleres Grficos Salesianos.
Mandiola, Juan-Castillo, Pedro. 1894. Gua de Antofagasta. Antofagasta: Imprenta El
Industrial.
Mendieta Parada, Pilar. 2006. Oruro: ciudad moderna y cosmopolita 1892-1930 en Ximena
Medinacelli, Coordinacin, Ensayos Histricos sobre Oruro. La Paz: Sierpe
Publicaciones.
Mitre, Antonio. 1981. Los Patriarcas de la Plata. Estructura socioeconmica de la minera
boliviana en el siglo XIX. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.
Mondaca R. Carlos- Segovia B. Wilson-Snchez G. Elizabeth. 2011. Historia y Sociedad del
Departamento del Loa. Calama, una mirada desde los archivos. El municipio y la
construccin social del espacio 1879-1950. Calama: Orizonta Producciones Digitales.
Monterrey C. Nancy. 2009. Chuquicamata. Otras voces te recuerdan. Antofagasta: Sergraf Ltda.
Nuez Atencio, Lautaro.1992. Cultura y conflicto en los oasis de San Pedro de Atacama.
Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria.
Panades, Juan. 1990. La maestranza del Ferrocarril Antofagasta a Bolivia en Mejillones.
Anexo I. En Julio Pinto Vallejos- Luis Ortega Martnez, Expansin minera y
desarrollo industrial: un caso de crecimiento asociado (Chile 1850-1914). Santiago
de Chile: Universidad de Santiago de Chile, pp. 113-136.
Prez, Alexis. 1997. El intercambio comercial Bolivia-Chile y el tratado de lmites de 1874
en Rossana Barragn, Dora Cajas, Seemin Qayam, Compiladoras, El Siglo XIX.
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4
Competitiveness and Sustainability of Railways
Dave van der Meulen and Fienie Mller
Railway Corporate Strategy CC
South Africa
1. Introduction
1.1 Failure and success: Competitiveness and sustainability
The worlds railway population spans many outcome variations between failure and success.
The study of differences is of course the foundation of scientific research: The ability to
understand what drives such differences facilitates cognitive positioning of railways for
success, or more specifically, competitiveness and sustainability. The authors have pioneered
research that contributed some understanding, on a journey that commenced with research to
describe the global railway setting, and ultimately applied multivariate statistical analysis to
discover how railways adapted to their particular settings. The findings were published
piecemeal as they emerged (e.g. International Heavy Haul Association 1997, 2007, and 2009;
Railway Gazette International, 2006; Transport Research Arena 2012; and World Congress on
Railway Research, 2003, 2006, and 2008), and have been integrated for the first time in this
chapter to present a global overview of the railway industry. As put forward here, the research
foundation is still evident, but only sufficient detail to support the storyline has been retained.
The present objective is to emphasize interpretation and significance of the findings for future
railway positioning, within the available page limit. Reference will of course be made to the
underlying research where appropriate.
1.2 Building a foundation for research into railway positioning
The research stream originated in a need to redress South Africas colonial railway heritage
of narrow track gauge, light axle load, low speed, small vehicle profile, steep gradients, and
monolithic state ownership, which attributes posed many challenges. Some were amenable
to technological solutionfor example it developed successful heavy haul operationsbut
others remained endemic. Solutions to similar challenges emerged around the world during
railway renaissance and ensuing railway reform. However, the need to control for many
differences among such solutions and their settings deterred research to understand which
interventions work and which do not. It will become evident, for example, that debating the
merits of vertical integration and vertical separation can miss the point that either can work
if a railway is inherently competitive, while neither will work if it is inherently
uncompetitive. Unlike other more or less homogeneous modes such as airlines, which are
challenged to differentiate their offerings, rails attributes are so heterogeneous that their
variance boggles the unaided human mind. Gradually awareness dawned that only highlevel numerate research would make progress.
70
The field of corporate strategy is a well established major in business administration and
business leadership. It addresses the total enterprise and how various functions interact to
achieve objectives. Thus while all enterprises encompass several common functions, e.g.
human capital, information technology, and so on, they must also manage their distinct core
business, whether that be banking, mining, whatever, or in the case of railways, moving
goods and people to support their logistics and mobility needs. However, googling railway
corporate strategy returned items dominated by the authors enterprise and their publications.
The unique contribution of the present research stream is therefore a grounded
understanding of corporate strategy with respect to the core business of railways.
2. Railway positioning
2.1 Competitiveness fundamentals
To comprehend railway positioning, it is helpful to examine railway competitiveness vis-vis that of other transport modes by considering their degrees-of-freedom-of-movability.
Three degrees-of-freedom-of-movability (e.g. aerial- and submarine transport) offer high,
spatial movability, but at relatively high cost. Next, two degrees-of-freedom-of-movability
(e.g. unguided surface transport) offer lower, surface movability at lower cost. Last, one
degree-of-freedomof-movability (e.g. guided surface transport) offers only limited, linear
movability, back and forth on its guideway. To the extent that limited movability reduces
the value of their offering, guided surface transport modes such as railways must offer
compensating advantages to compete effectively against other modes that offer higher
movability, including door-to-door transport.
Axiomatically, such compensating advantages should inhere in technologies that
differentiate guided surface transport from other transport modes. A vehicle-guideway pair
ensures precise application of vertical loads, and safe application of lateral loads: Wheel-rail
contact mechanics develop vertical- and lateral force components, technologies named
Supporting and Guiding by Vuchic (2007: 449), which can sustain respectively heavy axle
load and high speed. One may leverage Supporting and Guiding by combining two or many
vehicles, to scale capacity as required, a technology the authors named Coupling.
Supporting, Guiding, and Coupling are the three genetic technologies that distinguish guided
surface transport from all other transport modes: Inherent competitiveness is defined here, and
is measurable as, the extent to which such modes exploit their genetic technologies.
Note that the preceding two paragraphs have been generalized to guided surface transport,
of which railways is a subset. Other guided surface transport modes also exist, which do not
use steel-wheel-on-steel rail. We shall return to them in the context of urban guided transit
in 3.3 and 3.5. Until then, this chapter addresses railways.
Cross-breaking Bearing and Guiding, in Figure 1, yields four railway market spaces. For this
purpose, speed in tens of km/h is low speed, speed in hundreds of km/h is high speed; axle
load above 25 tonnes is heavy. Three market spaces feature high competitiveness, by
exploiting two or more of rails genetic technologiesnamely Heavy Haul (Supporting and
Coupling), High-speed Intercity (Guiding and Coupling), and Heavy Intermodal1 or Double
1Heavy intermodal traffic has heavy axle load: It is distinct from light traffic that simply transfers from
one mode to another.
71
Stack (Supporting, Guiding, and Coupling). All three have demonstrated robust
sustainability in competition with other transport modes.
72
speed trains attain average speeds in excess of 300km/h, and move 20 000 passengers per
hour per direction.
In 1972, a landmark article (Tracks to, 1972) recognized heavy haul as a distinct market
space. By then, Supporting and Coupling technologies and equipment to Association of
American Railroads specifications had spread abroad to dedicated railways conveying bulkcommodities. Today, heavy haul lines can move 400 million tonnes per year in trains of 300
cars or more.
In 1980, the United States Staggers Act deregulated its railways: The ensuing wave of
innovation among other triggered introduction of double stack container trains (Levinson,
2006). They enhanced inherent competitiveness through increasing axle load despite
conveying low-density high-value freight in containers, and leveraged it further with the
Guiding and Coupling genetic technologies.
In 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall tipped the balance of power across the world toward
those advocating democratic, consensual, free-market-oriented governance (Friedman,
2006), an ongoing process that stimulated economic globalization. In the railway supply
industry, the resultant increased competition and trade rationalized many nationallyfragmented system integrators into fewer strong global brands. Concurrently, accelerating
agglomeration in developing economies has expanded the urban rail market. The number of
cities has proliferated by some seventy in the last decade.
Economic globalization has of course been transforming all four abovementioned railway
market spaces: As examples, the Global Rail Freight Conference 2007 in New Delhi reflected
that transformation in its title, and World Congress on Railway Research 2008 reflected it in
its theme Towards a global railway.
The foregoing four events revitalized railways in those countries that appreciated the
imperative to enter as many of rails inherently competitive market spaces as applied to
them. Their accumulation across all railway countries has become known as the railway
renaissance. It has precipitated a substantial body of data, able to support research into the
modalities. However, even as the railway mode enters its third century as a strong
competitor, many railways still have not integrated seamlessly into global logistics and
intelligent mobility; they look different from one another, and even from many other global
service industries. So how does one undertake research that will lead to some
understanding of the differences among them?
73
such as airlines and logistics service providers. Corporate citizenship therefore provided a
sensible perspective on which to found the research reported here. It supports a social
sciences behavioural approach, because human behaviour drives enterprises.
3.2 Research in a dynamic, global setting
Railway countries have adapted themselves for competitiveness and sustainability to
varying degrees in a globalized industry. Hence, in addition to rails genetic technologies,
which address their inherent competitiveness, it is necessary to control for setting variables,
which influence their positioning. The research design must seamlessly compare railways in
command economies with those in free economies, open access with vertical integration,
heavy haul with transnational operators, and so on. It must also compare monolithic
national railways, which may publish comprehensive statistics, with entities whose data are
consolidated at a higher level, and with small operators whose data are confidential.
Corporate citizenship is by definition an ongoing process that requires observations over
time. Behaviour implicitly includes a time scalesnapshot data cannot observe it. A
behavioural approach can naturally support the foregoing requirements. One of the authors
developed a methodology for longitudinal railway corporate strategy research using large
samples in a doctoral dissertation (Van der Meulen, 1994), which methodology underlies the
research reported here.
Fortuitously, the global population of cities and countries with railways is sufficiently small
to avoid sampling, yet, using longitudinal research, at the same time sufficiently large to
support multivariate statistical analysis. It has been mentioned that line haul- and urban rail
are positioned differently, i.e. in respectively inherently competitive- and inherently weak
market spaces. They were therefore researched separately, first line haul and thereafter
urban rail. The necessary methodological distinctions start immediately below, and have
been maintained throughout the rest of this chapter as appropriate.
3.3 The research questions
The authors formulated their research questions within the context of an enterprises corporate
citizenship, as represented by its Contribution to Society, Core Business, Social Investment,
and Engagement in Public Policy, as well as resources deployed to set about its task. In respect
of the three market spaces that demarcate line-haul railways, they hypothesized the existence
of some number of underlying longitudinal, or time-dependent, relations among variables
associated with positioning line haul railways. The research question was therefore: Can one
identify archetypal railway corporate citizenships within the global setting?
In respect of urban rail, the market space is somewhat different. A subsidy is generally
present, so the responsible authority tends to deal directly with public policy aspects.
Furthermore, multiple guided transit modes in a city are not unusual, so urban transit
solutions tend to be more complex. The authors therefore hypothesized that positioning the
various urban guided transit modes in particular cities reflected attributes of their ever
changing economic- and social setting vis--vis attributes of the various transit modes. Their
research question was therefore Which country- and city green- and socio-economic attributes and
relations fit guided transit solutions to particular cities?
74
The two different research questions reflect the essential difference between positioning line
haul rail in market spaces where rail can be inherently competitive, versus positioning
urban rail in a market space where it may be inherently uncompetitive. Nevertheless, the
research design was set up to examine positioning, the action, and fit, the outcome, over
time in both situations.
3.4 Line haul railways
3.4.1 Variables and their definitions
For the purpose of this chapter, line haul railways transport goods or persons over long
distances or between cities. The authors measured the interaction between them and their
settings by the following variables that reflected rails corporate citizenship as well as its
genetic technologies and their naturally competitive market spaces. Pending the outcome of
statistical analysis, they were placed in the following groups for convenience:
Business Group represents the way in which railways deal with their task (Variables
Infrastructure Operator Diversity, Train Operator Diversity, Information Technology
Leverage, Total Road Network-, Motorways- and Paved Roads Percentage).
Competitiveness Group represents the way in which railways position themselves to
compete in their chosen or allotted market spaces (Variables Research & Development
Level, Relative Maximum Axle Load, Relative Maximum Speed, Distributed Power
Presence, Heavy Haul Presence, High-speed Intercity Presence, Heavy Intermodal Presence,
Motive Power Type, and Attitude to Competition).
Contribution Group describes the railways contribution to their society (Variables Network
Coverage, Transport TaskFreight- and Passenger Traffic Volume, Employment Created,
and Initiative Source).
Networkability Group describes the extent and gauge of track, and the contiguous network
beyond a countrys borders (Variables Narrow-, Standard-, and Broad Gauge; Networkability;
and Strategic Horizon).
Ownership Group describes industry structure (Infrastructure-operations Separation,
Infrastructure- and Rolling Stock Ownership Locus, and Infrastructure- and Rolling Stock
Commitment Horizon).
Society Group describes the railway setting (Variables Country (Name), Economic Freedom,
Population, Gross National Income, Physical Size, Determinism, and Climate-change
Position).
Sustainability Group describes adaptation and fit (Variables Infrastructure- and Rolling
Stock Investment Capacity, Stakeholder Satisfaction Level, Service Reputation, Safety
Reputation, Subsidy Influence).
Time Group represents passage of time, a prerequisite for longitudinal research (Variable
Calendar Year).
The operational definitions of the foregoing forty-four variables, plus their measurement
scales, exceed the space available in this chapter: Full details may be found at
75
www.railcorpstrat.com/Downloads/feb2008/WCR2008%20Line%20Haul%20Operational%
20Definitions.pdf.
3.4.2 Identification and selection of cases
Whatever the detail institutional arrangements, national governments typically either own
railways, or regulate to varying degrees railways that they do not own, within their
jurisdictions. Exceptions do of course exist where railway operations crisscross national
boundaries by agreement or directive, as in the North American Free Trade Agreement and
the European Union respectively. The authors therefore elected to examine railways by
country.
Some railway attributes are independent of track gauge, but the latter does drive inherent
competitiveness. There is no evidence that railways on track gauge of less than
yard/meter/3-6 are sustainable: The authors therefore excluded data for narrower track
gauges, irrespective of the gauge mix in a country. They used the Railways/Train Operators
section of Railway Directory to define the set of line haul railways. The above criteria
yielded 113 countries. Some of them included suburban and regional passenger operations,
which are strictly not line-haul. However, the complementary set of global railway data is
the City Railways section of Railway Directory, which the authors used for urban railways:
Together these two sections represent the entire global population of railways. On that scale,
they were disinclined to niggle about classification of boundary cases.
3.4.3 Construction of a database
Observations were predicated on the natural affinity between corporate citizenship and
public domain data. Metric data was extracted from Railway Directory (2002-2007), Janes
World Railways (2005-2006, 2007-2008), or the Internet, and non-metric data was extracted
by content analysis from International Railway Journal and Railway Gazette International.
The detail measurement methodology has been reported by Van der Meulen & Mller (2006,
2008b). The Internet was used liberally to verify data to ensure internal consistency. The
longitudinal database, containing one hundred and thirteen line-haul railways by country,
populated with data for the six years 2002-2007, for each railway, gave a population (and
sample) size of 113 x 6 = 678 cases, and is available at www.railcorpstrat.com/Downloads/
WCRR2008%20Line%20Haul%20Database.xls.
3.4.4 Statistical analysis
The authors applied multivariate statistical analysis to the database to examine
simultaneously relations among multiple variables, and multiple cases. They selected Factor
Analysis, to analyze relations among a large number of variables and then to explain them
in terms of a smaller number of latent variables, and Cluster Analysis, to reduce a large
number of cases to a smaller number of clusters. Statgraphics Centurion XV was used to
analyze the data. They culled variables with low communalities that contributed noise
rather than insight (i.e. those that appeared in the Operational Definitions file, but which are
absent from Table 1), after which the data set arrayed thirty-seven variables and 678 cases,
for a total of 25 086 observations. Statistical analysis stops at the Factor Loading Matrix in
Table 1, and at the Icicle Plot available at www.railcorpstrat.com/Downloads/WCRR2008%
76
77
Factor 1
Factor 2
Factor 3
Factor 4
Factor 5
Factor 6
Factor 7
No factor
Factor 8
0.78
0.76
0.76
0.70
0.66
0.64
0.63
0.56
0.47
0.34
0.03
0.10
0.18
0.28
-0.22
0.13
0.46
0.42
-0.02
0.22
0.14
0.24
0.03
0.31
-0.17
0.37
-0.19
0.26
0.22
0.15
0.07
-0.02
-0.15
0.42
-0.08
0.33
0.13
0.36
0.12
0.24
0.08
0.30
-0.04
0.11
0.24
-0.01
-0.01
0.01
-0.01
-0.10
-0.11
-0.02
-0.01
0.03
0.02
0.15
0.01
0.20
0.04
0.18
-0.01
0.06
-0.02
-0.03
-0.01
-0.26
0.06
-0.14
0.21
0.14
-0.08
0.27
0.21
0.03
0.11
0.10
0.35
-0.12
0.01
0.32
-0.04
Network Coverage
Country Population
Employee Count
Total Road Network
Passenger Traffic Volume
Country Physical Size
Freight Traffic Volume
0.23
-0.05
0.31
0.21
0.60
-0.35
0.39
0.85
0.84
0.81
0.80
0.69
0.62
0.62
0.27
0.12
-0.02
0.32
0.00
0.40
0.35
0.03
-0.31
0.28
-0.13
0.05
-0.32
0.27
0.20
-0.10
-0.02
0.19
0.16
-0.01
0.16
0.02
0.00
0.04
0.04
-0.03
0.01
0.01
0.02
0.04
-0.02
0.06
0.04
-0.01
0.02
0.08
-0.14
0.18
0.04
0.15
0.03
0.24
0.11
0.03
0.08
0.02
0.07
0.12
0.15
0.03
0.04
0.03
0.04
0.15
0.22
0.09
0.25
0.36
0.05
0.09
0.05
0.82
0.76
0.73
0.67
0.65
0.62
0.08
-0.01
-0.03
-0.29
0.47
0.12
-0.02
0.00
-0.04
0.31
0.13
-0.11
0.09
0.04
0.12
-0.13
0.01
0.01
0.06
0.05
0.03
-0.03
-0.17
0.03
-0.09
0.04
0.07
0.01
0.22
-0.23
0.08
0.16
0.22
-0.16
0.18
-0.13
-0.09
0.29
0.33
0.20
0.04
0.30
-0.04
0.00
0.24
-0.84
0.76
0.49
0.05
0.22
0.27
-0.04
0.04
0.01
0.00
0.00
-0.01
-0.12
-0.07
-0.47
0.01
-0.03
0.08
Infrastructure-operations Separation
Train Operator Diversity
Rolling Stock Ownership Locus
0.29
0.31
0.17
0.12
0.12
0.09
-0.11
-0.05
0.47
0.18
0.16
-0.16
0.81
0.80
0.68
-0.05
-0.04
-0.16
0.07
0.12
0.12
0.04
-0.01
-0.06
0.18
0.16
-0.03
0.00
-0.07
0.00
0.03
0.09
0.03
0.01
0.06
-0.08
-0.05
0.90
0.90
-0.01
0.01
0.02
0.06
-0.02
-0.05
Calendar Year
Climate-change Position
Rolling Stock Investment Capacity
Infrastructure Investment Capacity
-0.03
0.26
0.18
0.15
-0.04
-0.04
0.41
0.41
-0.02
-0.03
0.17
0.14
-0.01
-0.20
0.21
0.12
0.07
0.17
-0.01
0.05
0.05
0.03
-0.04
-0.18
0.81
0.59
0.48
0.46
-0.03
0.23
-0.21
-0.02
0.05
-0.08
0.20
0.01
Broad Gauge
-0.02
0.23
0.00
0.13
0.02
0.09
0.04
0.88
0.04
0.16
0.17
0.13
0.07
0.05
0.14
0.13
-0.12
0.07
0.13
-0.17
0.08
0.14
-0.06
0.03
0.00
0.72
0.67
Attitude to Competition
Subsidy Influence
78
Country group describes the broad national setting (variables Country Name; Agricultural
Land; Agriculture, Value Added; Alternative and Nuclear Energy; CO2 Emissions; Electric
Power Consumption; Energy Use; Exports of Goods and Services; Foreign Direct Investment;
Forest Area; GDP; GNI per Capita; Gross Capital Formation; High-technology Exports; Imports
of Goods and Services; Improved Sanitation Facilities, Urban; Improved Water Source, Urban;
Industry, Value Added; Inflation, GDP Deflator; Internet Users; Life Expectancy at Birth;
Merchandise Trade; Mobile Cellular Subscriptions; Out-of-pocket Health Expenditure;
Population Growth; Population, Total; Public Spending on Education; Services, Value Added;
and Surface Area). These variables were selected from World Bank Development Indicators:
Themes identified by content analysis of Time magazine for the period July 2009 to June 2010
suggested the twenty-eight indicators actually used out of 298 available.
Society Group describes governance and societal attributes of the setting (variables
Economic Freedom Index and Income Inequality).
Time Group represents passage of time, a prerequisite for longitudinal research (variable
Calendar Year).
Operational definitions, measurement scales, and source references, either documentary or
uniform resource locator, for each of the abovementioned variables, are available at
www.railcorpstrat.com/Downloads/Sep2011/TRA%202012%20Operational%20Definitions.
pdf.
To emphasize the difference between the line-haul rail and urban guided transit datasets,
note that the latter does not include the Competitiveness-, Networkability-, and Ownership
groups of the former. Urban guided transit was researched separately because it occupies a
potentially low competitiveness market space; it does not naturally network with other
railways and frequently cannot; and it is generally vertically integrated under a public
authority, so ownership aspects recede into the background. Furthermore, urban rail
responds to authority initiative rather than market initiative as more generally applies to
line haul rail: Subsidies are generally present so sustainability is inherently secure. It was
therefore not considered necessary to describe and measure subsidy and sustainability.
3.5.3 Identification and selection of cases
The research included the entire population of cities for which sufficient data could be
found to populate the database in respect of the transit modes that served them. The City
Railways section of Railway Directory (2009-2011) defined a minimum set of urban
railways. Cities with one or more of automated guided transit, bus rapid transit, and
monorail were added from websites listed under the applicable operational definitions at
www.railcorpstrat.com/Downloads/Sep2011/TRA%202012%20Operational%20Definitions.
pdf.
The longitudinal research design captured the adaptation dynamics of the global urban
transit industry for the three consecutive years 2009-2011. To add a fourth, projected year,
2012, greenfields- and brownfields projects were also included, their various stages of
progress measured on a five-point scale (Proposed 1, Feasibility Study 2, In Design 3, Under
Construction 4, and Operational 5). The latter value of course also applied to all existing
systems for the years 2009-2011.
79
Where necessary, raw data for agglomerations with more than one guided transit system
were adjusted to match them to the population and area that they served. Details of the
affected agglomerations accompany the applicable operational definitions.
3.5.4 Construction of a database
The authors constructed a new, dedicated, urban guided transit database using the variables
and cases mentioned above. The Microsoft Excel file comprises two complementary data
subsets, namely Countries and Cities, and is available at www.railcorpstrat.com/
Downloads/Sep2011/TRA%202012%20Database%20and%20Factor%20Loading%20Matrice
s.xls. It gathered 330 cities with guided transit in sixty-eight countries, each with four years
data for the period 2009-2012, for a total of 1320 cases. The database thus contains (1320
cases) x (98 variables) = 129 360 observations.
3.5.5 Statistical analysis
In previous research, Van der Meulen & Mller (2008a) had used factor analysis to reduce the
initial variables to a smaller set of latent variables. However, the many variables required to
describe country settings in sufficient detail tended to unduly dominate some of the latent
variables. Therefore, reflecting the research question, exploratory factor analysis was first
undertaken separately for Country- and for City descriptive variables, using Statgraphics
Centurion XV software. From the initial 36 country variables, it found seven latent variables,
namely Country Stature, Economic Development Level, Energy Demand Level and alter ego
Alternative Energy Acceptance, Services Contribution to GDP; Trade Contribution to GDP, and
Societal Development Level. From the initial 60 city variables, it also found seven latent variables,
namely Heavy Metro Position, Automated Guided Transit Position, Monorail Position, Light Metro
Position, Light Rail Position, and Green City Impediments. The authors named the latent variables
in the light of the variables that loaded onto them, within the context of the urban rail industry
setting: The separate factor loading matrices are available at www.railcorpstrat.com/
Downloads/Sep2011/TRA%202012%20Database%20and%20Factor%20Loading%20Matrices.
xls, while a diagram showing which variables by name loaded onto each Country- and City
latent variable is available at www.railcorpstrat.com/Downloads/Sep2011/TRA%202012%
20Latent%20Variables%20Diagram.pdf. Thereafter, structural equation modeling using EQS
6.1 software found relations among these latent variables. The path diagram in Figure 2 shows
the significant standardized regression coefficients as arrows pointing to the dependent latent
variables. Positive correlations indicate support, negative correlations indicate opposition.
Interpretation follows in 4.2.1. A detailed report on the structural equation modeling
intervention is available on the authors website at www.railcorpstrat.com/Downloads/
Sep2011/TRA%202012%20SEM% 20Report.pdf .
4. Findings
4.1 Line haul railways
4.1.1 The factor loading matrix
Exploratory factor analysis extracted seven latent variables plus one single variable, shown
in boldface italics in Table 1: They represent activities by which railways position their
80
corporate citizenship in respect of their core business. Interpretation of the latent variables
follows, with a reminder that 4.1 does not address urban rail: The latter will be addressed
in 4.2.
4.1.2 Positioning passenger rail
The variables Relative Maximum Speed, Gross National Income, Motorways Percentage,
Information Technology Leverage, High-speed Intercity Presence, Economic Freedom,
Paved Roads Percentage, R&D Level, and Electric Traction, all loaded positively onto the
latent variable Positioning Passenger Rail. Their effects are therefore mutually supportive.
Relative Maximum Speed anchors Positioning Passenger Rail. Based on rails Guiding
genetic technology, it enabled the railway renaissance to meet passengers high-speed
expectations on dedicated high speed lines. It even created new markets, such as Chinas
high-speed overnight electric multiple unit services, which extend their reach beyond the
constraints of a working day. Such innovations facilitate rails contribution beyond peak oil,
when high fuel prices could curb air travel.
Significantly, high national income and economic freedom associate concurrently with
motorways and paved roads, and with high-technology passenger railway attributes, i.e.
high relative maximum speed, information technology leverage, high-speed intercity
presence, electric traction, and high R&D level. Evidently road competition stimulates highspeed railways, which require high technology to remain competitive. It is therefore
noteworthy that the R&D function has migrated from railway operators to industry:
Emerging brand- and model competition among system integrators is comparable to that
between Airbus and Boeing in the aircraft industry.
4.1.3 Exploiting opportunities
The variables Network Coverage, Country Population, Employment Creation, Total Road
Network, Passenger Traffic Volume, Country Physical Size, and Freight Traffic Volume all
loaded positively onto the latent variable Exploiting Opportunities. It suggested competitive
and cooperative symbiotic relations among a countrys transport infrastructure (Network
Coverage and Total Road Network), its stature (Population and Physical Size), and rails
contribution to the economy (Employment Created, Passenger Traffic Volume, and Freight
Traffic Volume). It demarcated the space in which Enlightened-, Progressive-, and Assertive
Railways actualize their corporate citizenship as discussed in 4.1.10.
Large countries, or smaller countries with large contiguous networks beyond their borders,
are prime railway locations. Notwithstanding that, the inherently competitive applications
Heavy Haul, High-speed Intercity, and Heavy Intermodal, do not load on this latent
variable: Positioning Passenger Rail, Exploiting Opportunities, and Positioning Freight Rail,
therefore present mutually exclusive corporate citizenship positioning opportunities for
railways.
Real world examples reflect both actualization and absence thereof. Large developing
countries with high rail traffic volumes, such as Brazil, China, India and Russia are
substantially redeveloping their railways to increase their contributions to their respective
national transport tasks. Europes high-speed railways, and North Americas heavy freight
81
railways, illustrate strong performance in particular market spaces. Chinas Freight- and
Passenger Dedicated Lines, as well as Indias Freight Dedicated Corridors and its emerging
interest in high speed, illustrate ability to position railways in separate market spaces where
opportunities are sufficient. By contrast, Europe has the population, area, and traffic to
support substantial rail freight presence, yet substantial freight volume continues to move
by road, for reasons that will become clear in the next section.
4.1.4 Positioning freight rail
The variables Heavy Intermodal Presence, Distributed Power Presence, Heavy Haul
Presence, Infrastructure Ownership Locus, Relative Maximum Axle Load, and
Infrastructure Operator Diversity all loaded positively onto the latent variable Positioning
Freight Rail. It suggested that competitive freight railways, manifested by heavy
intermodal-, heavy haul-, and distributed power presence, associated with high relative
maximum axle load, privately owned infrastructure, and competing infrastructure
operators. Examples are preservation of competition among railways in the North American
Free Trade Agreement (Canada, Mexico, and the United States), and competition among
parallel iron ore railways in Australias Pilbara and Qubecs North Shore.
Highly competitive and sustainable positioning of freight railways is evident in the
member countries of the International Heavy Haul Association (Australia, Brazil, Canada,
China, India, Russia, South Africa, Sweden-Norway, and the United States); the double
stack container trains of the North American Free Trade Agreement and Australia, China,
India, and Saudi Arabia; and the emerging dedicated rail freight corridors in China and
India (Dedicated Freight, 2010). By contrast, the constituents of Positioning Freight Rail are
absent in Europe: Indeed the notion of a rail freight dedicated network has already been
rejected (European Freight, 2008). It is therefore unsurprising that European rail freight
struggles to compete with road freight (Heydenreich & Lehrmann, 2010), and it will be
interesting to observe whether the evolving rail freight network (Jackson, 2011a) will turn
the tide.
Interestingly, while both freight- and passenger railways use information technology, the
latent variable Information Technology Leverage loaded only onto Positioning Passenger Rail,
but is absent from Positioning Freight Rail. This suggested that freight rails ideal corporate
citizenship is that of competent carrier, and that logistics management belongs elsewhere.
It supports the assertion that few railways have had the management capability to
integrate acquired logistics companies efficiently and effectively (Reinhold & Gasparic,
2009).
4.1.5 Exploring horizons
The variables Narrow Gauge (negative), Networkability, and Standard Gauge loaded onto
Exploring Horizons. The signs indicated that Narrow Gauge opposed networkability, while
Standard Gauge reinforced it. Standard gauge track allows network- and train operators to
explore ever-wider horizons. This is evident in several initiatives to connect the standard
gauge networks of China, Europe and the Middle East. Note from Table 1 that Broad Gauge
did not load onto any latent variable: From a networkability perspective it is an independent
variable, like the real world examples.
82
By contrast, many narrow gauge railways must forego participation in long-haul business.
While they have achieved modest success in heavy haul, arguably the only viable postrenaissance narrow gauge application, heavy haul railways are usually short, and do not
naturally network with one another. Queenslands are interestingapproximately parallel
systems from multiple coalmines to several ports. South Africas are on opposite sides of the
continent. Brazils Estrada de Ferro Vitria a Minas is essentially a single purpose operation.
None of them establish a basis for continental scale networkability.
4.1.6 Pursuing competition
The variables Infrastructure-operations Separation, Train Operator Diversity, and Rolling Stock
Ownership Locus all loaded positively onto the latent variable Pursuing Competition. Vertical
separation, multiple train operators, and private rolling stock ownership constitute the basis of
liberal on-rail competition with open access to infrastructure, which has emerged notably in the
European Union and Australia. Latent variables are mutually exclusive: Pursuing Competition
introduces competition in the market in settings that are physically unable or politically
unwilling to support competition for the market among multiple infrastructure operators as in
Positioning Freight Rail. Whether vertical separation benefits the railway industry and its
stakeholders has been debated since Sweden first implemented it in 1987: There are many
arguments for and against (Jackson, 2011b). However, Pursuing Competition is only one of a suite
of applicable corporate citizenship latent variables. It is evident that in instances where vertical
separation has not worked as expected, that inherent competitiveness has also fallen short.
Consider, for example, that open access has met EU expectations for passenger operators, but
missed them for freight, while the freight-oriented Australian Rail Track Corporation network
has met expectations: In Europe, passenger rail positioning is inherently competitive, but not so
freight, while in Australia freight rail positioning is inherently competitive.
4.1.7 Aligning assets
The variables Rolling Stock Commitment Horizon and Infrastructure Commitment Horizon both
loaded positively onto the latent variable Aligning Assets. It suggested aligning infrastructure and rolling stock investment for appropriate periods, to avoid competitiveness
being eroded by obsolescence. Without competition to demand ever-increasing
performance, railways are not incentivized to replace existing assets with higher performing
assets. If they do not routinely raise the bar of their genetic technologies by increasing axle
load, speed, and/or train length, it becomes difficult to justify new- or upgraded assets.
Railways then contemplate refurbishment and rehabilitation, often leading indicators of
unsustainability. Sometimes they deploy new rolling stock on existing infrastructurea
palliative that may fail to realize the new trains full performance potential. The
countervailing value of private ownership emerged in Positioning Freight Rail and Pursuing
Competition. Sustainable private enterprise works assets hard or works them out.
4.1.8 Greening the image
The variables Calendar Year, Climate-change Position, Rolling Stock Investment Capacity, and
Infrastructure Investment Capacity all loaded positively onto the latent variable Greening the
Image. The anchor roles of Calendar Year and Climate-change Position suggested that actors
outside rather than inside the railway industry were actually setting the pace of greening.
83
Greening the Image reinforces Positioning Passenger Rail and Positioning Freight Rail, but the
benefits of a greener but uncompetitive mode are insignificant: The real challenge is to
increase rails competitiveness and thereby shift traffic to a greener mode by ecological
adaptation. Rails green credentials are undisputed: High speed railways accept steeper
gradients that minimize environmental impact; heavy axle load attracts traffic from road to
rail. State-of-the-art high-speed trains, and hybrid diesel locomotives with intelligent
driving aids, reduce energy consumption per passenger journey and per ton-km. However,
high speed and heavy axle load are uncomfortable bedfellows: Hence, in principle and to
the extent that it is viable, physically separate dedicated freight- and passenger
infrastructure promotes greening.
Passenger trains tend to be lighter and more frequent, so recovery of their regenerated
braking energy poses the lesser challenge. However, Positioning Freight Rail promotes longer
and heavier trains, so recovery of their regenerated braking energy poses the greater
challenge. In particular, many heavy haul railways descend from mine to port, and several
are potentially net energy generators over the empty-loaded round trip (Van der Meulen,
2010). Maximum regenerative braking should be the point of departure. However, while onboard battery storage on hybrid diesel locomotives might be worthwhile, such systems
cannot deal with a net surplus. Furthermore, regenerating all instantaneously surplus
energy requires locomotives to control the same load on downgrades that they haul on
upgrades. While this requires symmetrical up- and downgrades, many heavy haul routes
have asymmetrical grades that oblige loaded trains to dissipate potential energy through
dynamic or friction braking on descending grades, which reduces sustainability. Even if
gradients supported full regenerative braking, matching a three phase supply grid to single
phase overhead traction supply is the next challenge. This introduces the concept of smart
grids and open systems, which one hears about, but not yet in railway traction.
4.1.9 Constraining downside
The variables Attitude to Competition and Subsidy Influence both loaded positively onto the
latent variable Constraining Downside. It suggested that encouraging competition, while
applying subsidy to influence the beneficiary, could constrain downside in adverse
situations. A countrys railway industry is only as competitive as government will allow or
encourage. Where appropriate, governments traditionally subsidized railways directly, but
their role is changing. Instead of simply assuming responsibility for runaway expenses, they
now tend to recognize railways as worthy corporate citizens that they influence through
instruments such as investing to raise competitiveness, public-private partnerships, tax
incentives, and so on. Two examples are the United States Passenger Rail Improvement and
Investment Act of 2008 and its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which
provided seed investment for high speed rail, to be matched by state funding for operational
support (Boardman, 2010).
4.1.10 Cluster analysis
Whereas factor analysis finds relations among the variables in a database, the multivariate
procedure cluster analysis finds relations among the cases in a database, countries in this
instance. Applying cluster analysis, to the 2007 data only, reduced the 113 countries in the
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population to five clusters, which the authors named Fortuitous Railways, Insecure
Railways, Enlightened Railways, Progressive Railways, and the quasi-cluster Assertive
Railways. The procedure maximizes within-cluster homogeneity and maximizes betweencluster heterogeneity. Mentioning cluster members by name is restricted here, because some
ups and downs have occurred over time. Full details are nevertheless available in Van der
Meulen & Mller (2008a), while discussion of key issues follows.
Fortuitous Railways clustered twenty medium-sized countries. Their Relative Maximum Axle
Load was the only high attribute, the rest rating either moderate or low. They were standardor broad gauge state railways, redeemed by axle load that happened to be sufficiently heavy
to support basic competitiveness. The authors named them Fortuitous Railways because they
lacked attributes with which to project a distinctive corporate citizenship. Demonstrating
that railway renaissance is advancing, several Middle Eastern countries, which are making
substantial railway investment, have probably moved from the Fortuitous cluster to one of
the Enlightened-, Progressive-, or Assertive clusters.
Insecure Railways clustered fifty-four medium-sized countries. It had no high attributes,
had generally moderate attributes, and had low competitiveness, i.e. low maximum axle
load and -speed; no distributed power-, heavy haul-, or heavy intermodal presence;
predominantly narrow track gauge and low networkability. The authors named them
Insecure Railways because they failed to exploit any of rails strengths, and hence could be
vulnerable to external threats or withdrawal of political support. Many have colonial
origins, which possibly denied them wherewithal to actualize the positioning latent
variables detailed in 4.1.2 to 4.1.9: In countries where line haul railways are justified at all,
rebalancing of global power from developed- to developing countries could well redress
this legacy, one way or another.
New Zealand, which returned full circle during the present research, characterizes the
Insecure Railways cluster. Privatized in 1995, it soon fell short of expectations, running
down assets along the way (New Zealand, 2008). The government repurchased the
infrastructure in 2004, and the operations in 2008, thereby re-nationalizing railways. The
events are unsurprising: Narrow track gauge on an island, and other handicaps, precluded
it from Positioning Passenger Rail, Exploiting Opportunities, Positioning Freight Rail, or Exploring
Horizons, not to mention the other positioning latent variables. Governments skepticism
regarding the role of rail (KiwiRail debates, 2009) appeared justified.
Enlightened Railways clustered twenty small countries, mainly European Union members,
-candidates, or -applicants, plus South Korea. They rated high on relative maximum axle
load and -maximum speed, electric traction, networkability, information technology
leverage; paved roads, economic freedom, and gross national income. All other variables
were moderate, while freight technology was lowno distributed power-, heavy haul-, or
heavy intermodal presence. The name reflected their enlightened approach to rail reform by
encouraging competitive railway positioning per the latent variable Pursuing Competition.
Progressive Railways clustered France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Germany, and the United
Kingdom. They rated high on R&D level, relative maximum speed, high-speed intercity
presence, electric traction, attitude to competition, standard gauge, train operator diversity,
information technology leverage, total road network, motorways, network coverage, freight
traffic volume, passenger traffic volume, employee count, economic freedom, population,
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gross national income, infrastructure investment capacity, and rolling stock investment
capacity. These attributes supported competitive high-speed passenger services in
developed economies, while freight technology rated lowdistributed power, heavy haul,
and heavy intermodal were absent. All other attributes rated moderate. However, state
involvement was still present, and infrastructure operator diversity was essentially absent,
hence actualization of the full spectrum of positioning latent variables was circumscribed.
The name speaks for itself.
The Enlightened- and Progressive clusters needed to position their rail freight for
competitiveness. Setting aside Japan and South Korea, where respectively geography and
present politics constrain networkability, this reduces to a European matter. The uncertain
outlook of Europes rail freight (Reinhold & Gasparic, 2009) is not unexpected. The latent
variables Positioning Passenger Rail and Positioning Freight Rail indicate that positioning
freight- and passenger rail are distinct corporate citizenship activities: To date, these clusters
have hardly actualized Positioning Freight Rail. The prospect of heavy freight that will
predominantly run on a dedicated Trans-European Freight Network (European Rail, 2007)
is therefore encouraging. If successful, the notion of general freight transport increasingly
being undertaken by relatively light containerized trains that resemble passenger trains in
terms of loads exerted on the infrastructure, average speed, reliability and performance,
should be expected to rearrange the latent variable Positioning Freight Rail, and possibly
other latent variables too.
Assertive Railways formed a quasi-cluster, i.e. statistically independent railways that are
icicle plot neighbours but did not actually cluster. They are not insignificant railways, as the
following two selected above-the-median examples illustrate.
The United States rated high on research and development level, relative maximum axle load
and -speed; distributed power-, high-speed intercity-, and heavy intermodal presence;
attitude to competition; standard gauge; infrastructure operator diversity; information
technology leverage; total road network; infrastructure- and rolling stock ownership locus;
network coverage; freight traffic volume; economic freedom; gross national income; physical
size; infrastructure investment capacity; and subsidy influence. The US competitive private
enterprise and technology leadership have established a formidable freight railway
corporate citizenship. Trucking is both a tough competitor and a symbiotic supporter,
mainly in the intermodal market space. However, its comparatively high rail freight market
share, one of the highest in the world, has moved shippers to seek increased competition
and strengthened federal oversight (Kimes, 2011). Comparing European and US outcomes
to freight and passenger separation challenges in terms of Positioning Passenger Rail and
Positioning Freight Rail, note that Europes is generally a minus freight outcome; the US is
generally a minus passenger outcome. Both actively seek to introduce the missing positioning
latent variable. However, as mentioned under Progressive Railways above, Europes rail
freight still needs to demonstrate turnaround. Noting that the US is the only country with
strong underpinning for the latent variable Constraining Downside, its recent modest
stimulus funding (High speed, 2009) was on cue, but the quantum seemed unlikely to create
dedicated passenger corridors, while admission of 145km/h intercity trains on conventional
mixed-traffic routes might have diluted its potential impact. Subsequent progress has been
ambivalent (Six-year high, 2011; Governor halts, 2011), with only California committing to
commence construction of a 350km/h system in 2012 (California High, 2011). Evidently the
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latent variables Positioning Passenger Rail and Positioning Freight Rail are so robustly rooted in
rails genetic technologies that they do not readily yield to political expediency.
China rated high on R&D level, relative maximum speed; distributed power-, high-speed
intercity-, and heavy intermodal presence; electric traction; attitude to competition;
motorways; paved roads; freight traffic volume; employee count; population; physical size;
and infrastructure- and rolling stock investment capacity. Its rapid network growth and
technological development, and its immense railway corporate citizenship, have drawn
global admiration. Initially, it mixed high-speed passenger and freight on an upgraded,
network: For a country eagerly actualizing the latent variable Exploiting Opportunities, that
outcome aligned uneasily with the latent variables Positioning Passenger Rail and Positioning
Freight Rail. However, in recent times it has vindicated the research findings by rapid
expansion actualizing Positioning Passenger Rail through the emerging Passenger Dedicated
Line (PDL) network (Li-ren & Li, 2010), and Positioning Freight Rail through a second heavy
haul line to augment the 400 million-tonnes-per-year Daqin line (Second heavy, 2009) with
an ultimate objective of a 10000km heavy haul network. Heavy axle load is absent from the
variables listed above, but is set to increase to 30 tonnes on heavy haul lines (Seizing the,
2009). Chinas actualization of Positioning Passenger Rail and Positioning Freight Rail has
positioned it as worlds busiest heavy haul railway, and operates the first trains in the world
timetabled to run at an average of over 300km/h (Chinas star, 2010).
To do justice to members of the Assertive Railways cluster requires more space than the
page limit of this chapter. Because they are a quasi-cluster and not a true cluster, it is not
possible to discuss them in generic terms as has been done for the Fortuitous-, Insecure-,
Enlightened-, and Progressive Railways clusters. Instead each one requires discussion of its
individual attributes. Further examples may be therefore be found in Van der Meulen &
Mller (2008b).
4.2 Urban guided transit
4.2.1 The path diagram
Section 4.1 has interpreted the statistical findings of rails three inherently competitive
market spaces. Next, in urban transit language, 4.2.2 to 4.2.10 will interpret the path
diagram in Fig. 2 with respect to rails inherently weak market space. More detail is
available in Van der Meulen & Mller (2012).
4.2.2 Green city impediments
The latent variable Green City Impediments mediated between the country setting and urban
rail solutions in particular cities. Noting carefully the relative directions of their signs, and
that double negative is positive, the latent variables Societal Development Level (-0.389),
Alternative Energy Acceptance (-0.256), Economic Development Level (-0.150), and Services
Contribution to GDP (-0.149), opposed it, while Country Stature (0.075) supported it. From the
perspective of populous, large countries that feature urban guided transit, larger is
evidently not greener: Rather, positive societal development, minus alternative energy
acceptance, minus economic development, and minus services contribution, associate with
green cities.
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88
89
5. Discussion
5.1 Positioning passenger rail
The latent variable Positioning Passenger Rail has become a prominent function of railway
corporate citizenship. High speed rail has established itself as a formidable competitor
against airlines in most developed countries. It is also considered to stimulate developing
countries, and has become an aspirational objective in newly industrialized countries.
Countries such as Brazil, India, Iran, Morocco, Russia, Thailand, and Turkey, already
have, or are committed to acquiring high speed rail systems. China sees it as an
environmentally responsible mode for journeys up to six hours. Dedicated passenger
corridors have become the norm. Chinas 2010 High Speed Rail Conference sealed high
speed as the way to do long-haul passenger rail for the future. Positioning Passenger Rail is
a useful indicator of which variables should be within the high speed rail frame of
reference.
5.2 Positioning freight rail
The latent variable Positioning Freight Rail has also become a prominent function of railway
corporate citizenship. Heavy Haul is the prime solution for moving high volumes of bulk
commodities, as is Heavy Intermodal for moving high volumes of containers long distances
overland. Dedicated freight corridors have emerged in countries such as China and India,
which have the traffic volumes to justify them. Aside from the essential technical attributes
of heavy freight railways, the latent variable has highlighted the fundamental role of
competition in freight transport, getting right down to private infrastructure ownership and
then pitting competing railways against each other. Freight transport is generally a ruthless,
low margin, and very competitive market, not well suited to a government player. It is
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therefore difficult to see why some governments continue to see freight transport as a core
government function (Amos, 2006). Looking ahead to 5.4, it is evident that not all rail
reforms have faced this issue.
5.3 Positioning urban rail
The findings on urban rail positioning have provided interesting insights into ecological
adaptation in the light-axle-load low-speed market space. While Heavy Metro remains
unchallenged at the highest capacity level, it appears that rubber-tyred guided transit modes
have breached rails pre-eminent status. One would therefore expect Light Rail, and by
extension Light Metro, to be more vulnerable to competition from rubber-tyred systems by
virtue of their low axle load. Notwithstanding that potential weakness, their good green
credentials are attractive to smaller cities that value inherent environmental friendliness
over the expediency of simply moving people under the weight of popular demand.
Automated Guided Transit, Monorail, and Bus Rapid Transit do however seem well
positioned to drive a wedge between the heavy- and light poles of urban rail. From there,
one should expect them to win in medium cities such as Automated Guided Transit in Lille
in France, and Bus Rapid Transit in Jinan in China.
5.4 The role of rail reform
This chapter commenced with observing differences among railways. In the context of
this Section, variables in the Ownership Group and the Society Group were particularly
relevant. Having researched and explained the modalities of railway positioning, and
finding that renaissance is an achievable aspiration, it is now apposite to return to the
original differences. Why do the Fortuitous and Insecure clusters still exist? Note that
countries that have advanced have in many instances liberalized their institutional
arrangements, or are in process of doing so. There are of course exceptions, such as
China and India, but the weight of evidence from the Fortuitous and Insecure clusters,
the majority of whose members are state-owned, suggests that unless state ownership
results in operational efficiency and capital investment that positions railways for
competitiveness and sustainability, it is an impediment rather than a facilitator.
Vertical integration versus vertical separation and open access has been another persistent
reform issue. It is helpful to benchmark positions against the United States industry model.
Interoperability is near seamless, and continental-scale haul distances transcend
geographically-defined railroad franchises. Extensive leasing separates rolling stock
ownership from liveries and reporting marks. Symbiotic trackage rights give access to
infrastructure of others. Unrestricted interchange of 32.4 tonne-per-axle vehicles give the lie
to assertions that heavy haul and vertical separation cannot co-exist. All told, US railroads
are effectively infrastructure managers, not unlike those in Europe, and for purpose of this
argument its actual vertical integration is less than what the name suggests. Note
nevertheless critical differences regarding private infrastructure ownership, and extensive
though not ubiquitous competition between parallel railroads. While shippers will attest
that it is not a perfect market, it does suggest that anything less free is more constraining
than it need be.
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Note that this Section applies to line haul railways only. Urban rail is generally a local
government responsibility, which institutional arrangements are appropriate.
6. Future research
The research journey has revealed complex relations that underlie railway positioning.
As the renaissance progresses, railways migrate to clusters that exhibit more advanced
corporate citizenship. However, the adaptation process has fragmented the industry into
more competing entities, whose data become less accessible due to commercial
sensitivities, in many instances providing no more than minimum legal requirements.
The present research was fortunately conducted in a window of opportunity that has all
but closed in countries whose line-haul railways have advanced the furthest. Due to the
public nature of urban rail, that has not yet happened to its data. It would therefore be
difficult to replicate the line haul research with current data. It might even be pointless
because, having identified the Fortuitous and Insecure clusters and the determinants of
their position, there is arguably no more insight to extract. It would be more productive
to learn from the Enlightened, Progressive, and Assertive railways. However, that would
reduce the population size by 65%, which would require a new research design.
7. Conclusions
The research stream described in this chapter has developed a statistical research approach
to global railway positioning, both line haul- and urban, from a corporate citizenship
perspective.
In supporting the hypothesized existence of some number of underlying longitudinal, or
time-dependent, relations among variables associated with positioning line haul
railways, the research has found the eight latent variables Positioning Passenger Rail,
Exploiting Opportunities, Positioning Freight Rail, Exploring Horizons, Pursuing Competition,
Aligning Assets, Greening the Image, and Constraining Downside. These latent variables
represent actualization of a railways corporate citizenship with respect to its core
business.
In supporting the hypothesis that positioning the various urban guided transit modes in
particular cities reflected attributes of their ever changing socio-economic setting vis--vis
attributes of the various transit modes, the research found the seven country-related latent
variables Country Stature, Economic Development Level, Energy Demand Level, Services
Contribution to GDP; Trade Contribution to GDP, Societal Development Level, and Alternative
Energy Acceptance, and the seven city-related latent variables Heavy Metro Position, Automated
Guided Transit Position, Monorail Position, Light Metro Position, Light Rail Position, and Green
City Impediments. The relations found between country- and city latent variables were
presented in a path diagram that shows regression coefficients from the socio-economic
setting to particular guided transit solutions. It represents the positioning of those solutions
with respect to their country and city settings.
The foregoing outcome has developed grounded understanding of railway positioning in
all four of rails market spaces, the three in which it is inherently competitive, namely
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Heavy Haul, High-speed Intercity, and Heavy Intermodal, as well as the market space in
which it is potentially weak, namely Urban Rail. This has made it possible to understand
and to predict with reasonable certainty what will be the outcome of a particular railway
positioning intervention, or to analyse a situation and design appropriate remedial
intervention.
Like the top-down research design, its application is primarily top down. As examples, the
authors have used it as a framework for national rail development strategy, national railway
economic regulation, national railway policy, rails contribution to national transport
planning, national passenger commuter rail technology, development of strategic rail plans
at provincial- and regional levels, high level positioning of major rail corridors, and
conceptual design of a regional rail corridor. In short, it provides high-level insight with
which to assess the viability of policy options.
8. Acknowledgements
The authors express their appreciation for constructive comments to peer reviewers at many
conferences, colleagues in the global railway industry, and colleagues in the South African
railway industry. The work reported here is much richer for it.
9. References
Amos, P. (2006). Railway reform: Vertical integration and separation, World Bank, Accessed
2011-10-16, Available from:
www.euromedtransport.org/En/image.php?id=1129
Boardman, J. (2010). Fast-tracking the future, Railway Gazette International, Vol.166, No.7,
pp.44-47
California High-speed Rail Authority (2011). Chairman issues statement, Accessed 2011-10-16,
Available from: www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/10102011-leg.aspx
Dedicated Freight Corridor loan (2010). Railway Gazette International, Vol.166, No.9, p.7
European Freight and Logistics Leaders Forum (2008). NEWOPERA The rail freight
dedicated lines concept final report, Author, ISBN 978-3-00-0275700-1, Brussels,
Belgium, p.157
European Rail Research Advisory Council (2007). Strategic Rail Research Agenda 2020,
Brussels, Belgium, p.13
Friedman, T.L. (2006). The world is flat, Penguin, ISBN 978-0-141-03489-8, London,
England
Governor halts Florida high speed project (2011). Railway Gazette International, Vol.167, No.3,
p.10
Heydenreich, T. & Lehrmann, M. (2010). How to save wagonload freight, Railway Gazette
International, Vol.166, No.9. pp.126, 128, 130
High speed scramble (2009). Railway Gazette International, Vol.165, No.8, p.19
Jackson, C. (2010). Chinas star blazes a high speed trail, Railway Gazette International,
Vol.166, No.2, p.3
Jackson, C. (2011a), Rail freight network starts to evolve, Railway Gazette International,
Vol.167, No.3, pp.48-52
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Jackson, C. (2011b). Does separation really work? Railway Gazette International, Vol.167, No.6,
p.3
Janes World Railways (2005-2006, 2007-2008). Englewood, Colorado, United States of
America, IHS
Japanese Railway Engineering (1964). Special IssueNew Tokaido Line, Vol.5, No.4, pp.156
Kimes, M (2011). Showdown on the railroad, Fortune, Vol.164, No. 5. pp.81-88
KiwiRail debates the way forward (2009). Railway Gazette International, Vol.165, No.11, pp3942
Levinson, M. (2006). The box, pp. 261-262, Princeton University, ISBN 978-0-691-12324-0,
Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America
Li-ren, D. & Li, D. (2010). Planning the worlds biggest high speed network, Railway Gazette
International, Vol.166, No.12, pp.41-46
New Zealand nationalizes (2008). Railway Gazette International, Vol.164, No.6, p.344
Railway Directory (2002-2007, 2009-2012). Hamburg, Germany, DVV Media Group
Reinhold, T. & Gasparic, C. (2009). Facing the moment of truth, Railway Gazette International,
Vol.165, No.12, pp. 24-27
Second heavy haul line gears up to handle more coal (2009). Railway Gazette International,
Vol.165, No.9, p.40
Seizing the opportunity (2009). Railway Gazette International, Vol.165, No.9, pp.31-36
Six-year high speed plan announced (2011). Railway Gazette International, Vol.167, No.3,
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Tracks to carry the big mineral hauls (1972). Railway Gazette International, Vol.128, No.2,
pp.49-53
Van der Meulen, R.D. (1994). Some relations of corporate strategy content to organizational
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societies, Doctoral dissertation, University of Pretoria, Dissertation Abstracts
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Van der Meulen, R.D. (2010). Heavy haul railway electrificationexperiences and prospects,
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Van der Meulen, R.D. & Mller, L.C. (2006). Railway globalization: Leveraging insight from
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Van der Meulen, R.D. & Mller, L.C. (2008a). Strategies for sustainable mobility: Urban
railways as global corporate citizens, Proceedings of the 8th World Congress on Railway
Research, G.2.2.2.1 [CD-ROM], Seoul, Korea
Van der Meulen, R.D. & Mller, L.C. (2008b). Ultimate interoperability: Line-haul railways
as global corporate citizens, Proceedings of the 8th World Congress on Railway Research,
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Vuchic, V.R. (2007). Urban transit systems and technology, Wiley, ISBN 978-0-471-75823-5,
Hoboken, New Jersey, United States of America
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from: www.weforum.org/issues/corporate-global-citizenship
5
Structural and Kinematic Analysis of
EMS Maglev Trains
Zhao Zhisu
96
1.Electricity box, 2.Instument panel, 3.Automate control unit, 4.Thyrist chopper, 5.Battery, 6.Gas sensor,
7.Levitation magnet, 8.Power collector, 9.Linear induction motor, 10.Hydraulic brake, 11.Saving skid,
12.Reaction plate, 13.Brakage, 14.Anchor rail, 15.Power rail
Fig. 2. Transrapid-02
1. Secondary suspend, 2.Anchor rail, 3.Levitation magnet, 4.Power rail, 5.Power collector,
6.Hyraulic brake, 7.Reaction plate, 8.Linear induction motor.
Fig. 3. HSST-02
However, Vibration problem is still unresolved by use of this structure when the train are
running at a high speed, because the gap size between magnetic track and suspension
electromagnet is acquired by gap sensors which are generally laid for four. The four points
should be controlled independently and may not in the same plane (for example, track error,
vehicle passing transition curve, asynchronous dynamic adjustment of all points, etc.), but for
the rigid or elastic support system in which the bogies are still rigid, the four sensors are
installed in a comparatively rigid plane, so this is a conflict. After a long period of experiments
and researches, a new kind of modularized vehicle structure (TEJIMA Yuichi, et al., 2004; Seki &
Tomohiro, 1995; Maglev Technical Committee, 2007) Fig.4, 5is invented. The car body and
running gear are separated and jointed by the secondary suspension system in which the four
control points of bogies are decoupled, so the vibration problem of vehicles are solved perfectly.
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1. Guidance magnet, 2.Overlap magnet, 3.Brake magnet, 4.Levitation magnet, 5.Car body, 6.Maglev
bogie, 7.Secondary suspension system, 8.Levitation frame
Fig. 4. Transrapid 08
Fig. 5. HSST-100
2.2 Characteristics of EMS maglev train structure
The structure of maglev trains has several extraordinary characteristics: 1) as light as
possible; 2) enough degrees of freedom; 3) special mechanically-braking mode; 4) unique
lateral load way 5) vehicles fall on rail to slide under emergency. The vehicles are composed
of three parts as shown in Fig.4: car body at the top, secondary suspension at the middle and
running gear at the bottom. The wheel rail vehicles have only two bogies through wheel
pair contact with rail, but bogies of the maglev trains distributed along the entire length of
vehicles, so they are strikingly different in structure.
The two wheel pair of wheel rail vehicles is installed on a rigid frame in the same plane. The
four points in the frame of maglev bogies, the detection points of gap sensors, should move
independently. The bogies have two typical structures: the bogie with torsion longeron is
shown as Fig.6 (Maglev Technical Committee, 2007), Fig.8 (Z.S. ZHAO & L.M. YING, 2007).
Two levitation frame units 8 are connected by torsion longeron 7 to form The maglev bogies.
In vertical direction, the bogies realize the independent motion of four points by reversed
longeron (the bogies hereinafter referred as T-type bogies); and the bogie is assembled by
connection tow module 8 with anti-rolling beam 1, as shown in Fig.7.
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1. Support arm, 2.Levitation magnet, 3. Crossbeam, 4.Air spring & Pendulum arm, 5.Guidance magnet,
6.Support skid, 7.Torsional longeron, 8.Levitation frame unit, 9. Gap sensor
1. Anti-rolling beam, 2.Air spring, 3.Linear induction motor, 4.Linear rolling table, 5.Drive staff,
6.Forced steering mechanism, 7.transverse rod, 8.Module, 9.Lvitation magnet, 10.Gap sensor, 11.thrust
rod, 12.Rocker.
99
drive the air spring transverse rod 7, then the force is transmitted to thrust rod 8 whose
motion drives the T-type rod to rotate, the rotation is passed to another T-type rod by
linkage wire ropes, then thrust rod and transverse rod of next bogie drive its modules to
deflect and so far the steering action is completed.
The secondary suspension system transmits three forces in different directions between car
body and bogies and the transmission course is as follows: the vertical load transmits in
maglev track electromagnet modules diaphragm air spring rolling
table car body.
The transverse load transmits in car body T-type rod wire rope, transverse link
lower rolling table air spring tie rod modules electromagnet track.
It can be seen that plenty of bogies distributed along the length of car body contribute to the
relative complex joint of car body and bogies. If the tilting suspension system is adopted, the
maglev bogie 4 has sixteen pendulum binding mechanisms; if the rolling table is adopted,
there are ten point of junction for the steering mechanism.
100
101
Fig. 10. Connection between Secondary suspend system, car body & running gear, and two
bogies is connected by forced steering mechanism
But the problem is far from simple. For example, the relative position of car body and
running gear of vehicle as shown in Fig.4 must be calculated based on the sixteen pendulum
suspension mechanisms for the joint of car body and bogie. If the relative position of car
body and bogie in the curve changes, the rocker deflects and the weight W of car body
transmitted by the sixteen suspenders to the bogie is decomposed into two component
forces Wi, Wj, so the transversal relative position of car body and bogie involves the balance
of sixteen transversal forces Wi but not a simple calculation of geometric relationships.
For the vehicle as shown in Fig.5, the constraint of electromagnetic restoring force in the
relative position of bogies and track is described in the preceding paragraph. It is easy to
calculate the relative position of single bogie and guideway, namely the instantaneous position
or locus, then the relative positions or topological relations among all components can be
deduced by electromagnetic balance. However, owing to the complexity of connection
relationships between several bogies and car body (Fig.10), this calculation method can not be
extended to the vehicle. A typical case is when a bogie enters into the transition curve and the
following bogie is still in the straight-line guideway, the front bogie rotates around the points
C1, C2 and the following bogie is droved to rotate around the points C3, C4 owing to the effect
of forced steering mechanism 3, so the following bogie doesnt move along a straight line. The
reason lies in that there is a balance relationship of restraining force between the lateral
electromagnetic restoring force and components and it should not considered simply that the
bogies are pulled to the track by electromagnetic restoring forces. Therefore, different from the
wheel rail vehicles, the passive guidance EMS maglev trains may not run in the track curve.
The vehicle electromagnetic restoring force, constraint among all components and track
geometry curve must be considered comprehensively to deduce the instantaneous position or
trace of a bogie in absolute coordinate by the force balance relation and geometrical relation of
vehicle in any position, then the relative positions between the rigid bodies or topological
relations of all components are deduced by connection relations. However, it brings big
difficulties in solving this problem.
4. Kinematic modeling and analysis of maglev trains (Z.S. Zhao and C. Ren,
2009)
The kinematic characteristics of EMS maglev trains illustrated in the preceding paragraph
show that the motion of maglev trains can not be deduced simply by geometrical relations.
Based on the passive EMS maglev trains, the following kinematic analysis includes
102
kinematic modelling and analysis. The vertical position of vehicle is controlled by the
levitation gap between electromagnet and guideway. Because the gap is constant, the
vertical position of vehicle can be determined by the track curve and the determination of
lateral instantaneous position is the key of kinematic research on vehicles.
The research on instantaneous position adopts two methods based on track fitting: strict
fitting track (two endpoints of the bogie on the track) (ZHAO Z.S. & YING L.M., 2000; MEI
Z. & LI J., 2007; JIANG H.B., et al., 2007) and balanced lateral electromagnetic restoring force
of single bogie (ZENG Y.W. & WANG S.H. 2003; ZHANG K. & LI J., 2005; ZHAO C.F & ZAI
W.M., 2005). The former is obviously an unproved hypothesis and the later doesnt consider
the influence of constraint among all components in the motion.
1.Anti-rolling beam, 2.Linear rolling table, 3.forced steering mechanism, 4.T type rod, 5.Wire rope,
6.Levitation magnet, 7.module.
Fig. 11. Running gear sketch of the passiveness guidance EMS maglev train
4.1 Kinematic modelling of EMS mid-low speed maglev trains
To simplify the problem without loss of generality, in this article derivations is made based
on the following conditions: 1) because the Z-directional motion of vehicle has a little
influence on its lateral motion, its mathematical deduction is based on X-Y plane; 2) the
model is established for the vehicle with four bogies; 3) the axis C1-C4 are combined into two
axis P4, P11 (Fig.12); 4) the kinematic modelling is only based on the central line of track; 5)
the carriages and bogies are rigid bodies with the lengths of LCL respectively.
4.1.1 Kinematic modeling of maglev trains based on geometrical relations
In the instantaneous position sketch of maglev trains as shown in Fig. 12, Pixi,
yirepresent bogies end point and intersection point of bogies and track curve Y(x). If Pi is
definite, the instantaneous position or motion locus of vehicle and the relative positions
(topological relations) among the components of vehicle and between vehicle and track may
be determined. The section aims to establish the equations with the unknown quantities xi, yi
103
Fig. 12. Instantaneous Position of the maglev vehicle with four bogies
( yi yi 2 ) ( yi 1 yi 2 )
0
( x i x i 2 ) ( x i 1 xi 2 )
( yi 3 yi 1 ) ( yi 2 yi 1 )
0
( xi 3 xi 1 ) ( xi 2 xi 1 )
( xi xi 3 )2 ( yi yi 3 )2 L2
(4-1)
There i=1, 4,8,11. The geometrical relation between carriage and bogie is:
(4-2)
0
x i xi 2
xi 1 xi 2
y i 3 Y ( xi 1 ) Y ( xi 2 ) Y ( xi 1 )
xi x i 1
xi 2 xi 1
(4-3)
In the above equation, i=1, 4,8,11. The straight line representing the centre line of carriage is:
y 4 y 11
y 4 y11
x y
x4 y 4 0
x 4 x11
x4 x11
104
The offset distance from the bogie endpoints to the car body obtained by the distance from
( y 4 y11 )( xi x 4 ) ( x 4 x11 )( yi y 4 )
point to line: i
, in which i=1,7,8,1. Follow equation
0.5L c
(ZHAO Z.S. et al., 2000) is given by the structural symmetry and the constraint of forced
steering mechanism,
1 14
7 8
(4-4)
there are twenty-two equations with twenty-eight unknown quantities Pi(xiyi) in the
above (4-1)-(4-4), it is obvious that the kinematic problem of vehicle can not be solved only
by geometrical relations and other equations should be founded by the balance relations of
lateral forces.
4.1.2 Kinematic modeling of maglev trains based on the constraint of lateral
electromagnetic restoring force and mechanism constrain
The passive guidance EMS maglev train keeps a lateral position from electromagnetic
restoring force. To seek balance of lateral force, it should be considered that the calculation
of electromagnetic resilience generated by the linear bogie units fitting the curved track; the
influence of constraint such as the binding force produced among the bogies owing to
interconnection of the forced steering mechanisms and carriages an bogies. In this section,
other equations shall be sought for by the balance of lateral forces, the calculation formula of
lateral forces (Sinha P. K., 1987) is:
u
Fu K mLw tan 1
in which K m
0 N 2 I 2
A
Lw
, Lw is length of magnetic pole0, N, A, I represents
Wm
4
u1 represents the distance from a point q(xy) in the curve to the line:
( y y 4 )x ( x1 x4 )Y ( x ) x1 y 4 x 4 y1
seeing to (Fig. 13), dLw cos( s 1 )ds ,
u1 1
L
y y4
ds cos s dx , ks tan s , k1 tan 1 1
, dFu1 can be written as
x1 x 4
dFu1
1 ks k1
1
k12
u
K m tan 1 1 dx
105
xi 2
xi 1
1.
Km
1 ks ki
1
ki2
u
tan 1 i dx i=1,2,3,4.
Fx Fui sin i 0
i
4
Fy Fui cos i 0
i
u
tan 1 i dx 0
4 x
1
k
k
u
i2
xi 1 Km 1 ks 2 i tan 1 i dx 0
i
i
xi 2
i1
Km
(1 ks ki )ki
ki2
(4-5)
Balance equation of moment of lateral restoring force (taking P4 as the pivoting point)
i3 i2
x31
1 ks k 3
u
Km
tan 1 i ( x x4 ) 0
2
x32
1 k3
4 x
(1
k
k
)
k
u
i1
xi 2 Km 1 sk 2i i tan 1 i ( 1)i ( y 4 Y ( x ))dx
i3
i
x31
(1 ks ki )k3
1 ui
Km
tan
(Y ( x ) y 4 )dx 0
2
x32
1 k3
xi 1
Km
1 k s ki
u
tan 1 i ( 1)i ( x4 x )dx
2
1 ki
(4-6)
106
2.
l11
f 11
l12
(4-7)
The moment arm length from the point P4 to No.1 bogies any point dFu1 on which
x x4
( x x4 ) 1 k12 , the balance relation of No.1
electromagnetic resilience is exerted is
cos 1
bogie modules moment is 0.5 f 11L cos 1
x12
x11
u
K m (1 ks k1 )( x x 4 )tan 1 1 dx , namely,
2 x12
u
K m (1 ks k1 ) 1 k12 ( x x 4 )tan 1 1 dx , similarly f12 can be obtained, and
x
11
L
substituted in7
f 11
xi 1
2 i x
i 1,2
i2
u
K m (1 ks ki ) 1 ki2 ( x 4 x )tan 1 i dx 0
(4-8)
By the above method the constraint forces balance equation of forced steering mechanisms
connecting No.3, 4 bogies can be obtained:
xi 1
i 3 x
i 3,4
i2
u
K m (1 ks ki ) 1 ki2 ( x x11 )tan 1 i dx =0
(4-9)
The upper or lower limit of integration are the coordinate x of the intersection points qi1qi2
of two straight lines perpendicular to the endpoints PiPi+3 of the No.1 bogie and the curve
Y(x). Its expression is written as (corresponding to four bogies, j=1, 4, 8, and 11):
107
ki ( xi 1 x j ) (Y ( xi 1 ) y j ) 0
ki ( xi 2 x j 3 ) (Y ( xi 2 ) y j 3 ) 0
Substituting x11y11=Y(x11) in the above first equation, the following equation can be
obtained:
k1 ( x11 x1 ) (Y ( x11 ) y1 ) 0
(4-10)
Following kinematic characters of vehicles can be deduced by the above general kinematic
formulas:
Character 1: kinematic the static determinacy or indeterminacy of vehicles is determined by
the forced steering mechanism, namely the topological relation between a bogie and
carriage (formula (4-4), (4-7)) must be given and if not, there will be multiple solutions of
motion trace.
Character 2: n, namely the number of intersection points of the modules (straight line) and
track (convex curve), 1n2, two geometric equations will be reduced for each reduced
crossing point and in the straight-line segment of track, the bogies are coincident with the
track.
Character 3: the motion trace of vehicle is determined together by the topological relations
between bogie and carriage and bogie and track but not only by the track.
Character 4: The steering characteristic and yawing characteristic of vehicle with transverse
interference depend on the balance relation between the lateral electromagnetic restoring
force and the constraint force of forced steering mechanism.
4.2 Solution and analysis of kinematic equations of EMS mid-low speed maglev trains
108
x 3
y=Y(x) =
6l0 R
2
2
yc R ( x xc )
x0
0 x xe
xe x
Motion trace
To express the kinematic characters, the motion trace of vehicle is shown by the offset of
bogies to the track but not the coordinate figure Pi. The fig.15 gives the fitting figure of
computed results and the table 1 shows the computed results when q11 is valued as four
typical coordinate points.
Frontu11
Rearu12
Frontu21
Rearu22
Frontu31
Rearu32
Frontu41
Rearu42
1.94
1.89
1.89
1.91
3.52
3.49
3.49
3.5
6.52
6.46
6.46
6.48
1.91
1.89
1.89
1.92
8.05
7.94
7.94
8.01
3.52
3.51
3.51
3.53
109
2.
The relationships of relative positions exist among the bogies and between bogies and
carriages. For the sake of intuition, the computed results of relative positions among bogies
are transformed into the included angles. The figure 16 gives the fitting figure of computed
results of relative positions among bogies and the Tab. 2 gives the computed results of two
position relations when q11 is valued as four typical coordinate points respectively
1-2
2-3
3-4
Front1
Rear7
Front8
Rear14
12
23
34
3.4, 0.0055
3.24
1.05
0.84
0.84
0.034
0.02
6.8, 0.0437
13.78
4.52
1.02
1.02
0.424
0.215
Bogie P11(x,y)
q11(x,y)
10.2, 0.1474
95.75
31.81
27.24
83.92
1.072
0.556
0.039
13.6, 0.3494
157.8
52.54
48.05
146.03
1.771
1.091
0.411
Table 2. Angle ij between bogies & Bogie endpoint offset i relative to the car body
4.3 Conclusions
2.
3.
The absolute position or trace of vehicle is not equal to track curve and their relation
(offset uij) is also not constant. The change rule is: straight segment (zero) easement
curve segment (Monotone increasing) bend segment (a maximum constant)
The kinematic static determinacy or indeterminacy of vehicles depends on the forced
steering mechanism. If no forced steering mechanism, the kinematic relation of vehicles
is indefinite.
The bogie and carriage, bogie between any two are restricted geometrically and the
bogie and track is constrained by lateral electromagnetic restoring force, so the absolute
110
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The functions of forced steering mechanism are to connect two bogies to form the running
gear (Fig.10, 11, 14), keep a proper geometric position between the running gear and car
body (Fig.10) and transmit the transversal force between the running gear and car body.
When realizing these functions, the uncoupling of bogies can not be affected by the
mechanism. According to Fig.14, the transverse thrust rod of the forced steering mechanism
may affect the uncoupling of bogies, which can be obtained by analyzing some motions of
bogie as it goes through the curve.
The relative height and distance between the ends of two bogie modules in motion may
change. The transverse thrust rod are equipped at the end of bogies, so it is possible to add
spherical hinges at the end of links to adapt to the change of relative height between the
ends of two modules and it is hard to change the length of rigid rods. Take the vehicle with
five bogies Shown as Fig.17 for example. Setting1=2-12=2-1, h, , L represent
width of track and angle of aR2 , length of module respectively.
L
i 5i
2 Ri
i sin 1
outside track radius is R1 =R+h/2, inside track radius is R2 =R-h/2, distance between two
module endpoints of bogie in the curve ai R12 R22 2 R1 R2 cos i , there i=1,2.
111
112
x x1 2 y y1 t 2
2
x x2 2 y y2 t 2
x d 2 y 2 l 2
(5-1)
2
2L
y i ( 1)i 1 ( h f cos 4 i ) L sin 4 i ( 1)i 1 ( h f )
Ri
(5-2)
among which,
xi L cos 4 i ( 1)i f sin 4 i L 1
4L2
Ri2
In the above equation set, i=1, 2and by the third equation in (1), y l 2 ( x d )2 is
obtained.
In consideration of x1 x2 , by the first and second equations in (1), y L2 (
1
1
) is
R1 R2
1
1
)]2 x , thus the x, y is obtained and substituted respectively
R2 R1
( t 2 [ h f L2 (
1
1
1
1 2 2
) l
)]2 L d )2 L4 (
R2 R1
R1 R2
113
(5-3)
Without considering of high-order small quantities, the equation (3) can be simplified as:
( t 2 ( h f )2 L d )2 l 2 or t 2 ( l d L )2 ( h f )2
There are two unknown quantities t and 1 in the above equation. One of them is set, the
other can be obtained. A calculation sample is given below.
Given that L=2.24m, h=2m, R=50m, f=90mm, d=1.9m and l=550mm, t1.39m can be obtained.
5.2 Kinematic analysis on tilting suspension system of maglev train
5.2.1. Mathematical description of turing characteristic of tilting suspension system
maglev train (Zhao Z.S., 2009)
The figure 18 show the motion state of high-speed maglev train with tilting suspension system
goes around the curve, in which ij, ij represent the lateral displacement and oscillation angle
of rocker respectively and wTijfij represent the car body gravity, tension and lateral force
of carriage acting on the rockers of tilting suspension system respectively. The train is
composed of carriage, bogies, suspension system. four bogies and three overlapping modules
are connected alternately to form the running gear (see the Fig. 18 left) and four set of pendular
suspension systems are configured in the interval between four bogies and carriage
respectively (see the Fig. 18 right). As the vehicle enters the curve, the bogies move along the
track curve under the effect of active electromagnetic guiding force and produce relative
displacement ij to the carriage which is driven by the oscillation of rockers of tilting
suspension system. The sixteen pendular rod of tilting suspension system will produce the
lateral force acting on the carriage and bogies. ij is determined by the balance of the forces fij
acting on the carriage, the active electromagnetic guiding force can be obtained by the force fij
acting on single bogie. Therefore the solution of the steering characteristic of maglev train with
tilting suspension system lies in resolving the displacement of rockers and the force acting on
them. From the viewpoint of design, it might as well make a hypothesis that the sixteen
rockers receive the weight of carriage equally.
Fig. 19. Force and Displacement of Tilting Suspension System & Relative Displacement
between Carriage and Bogie in the Curve
114
i 1 j 1
in the above equations, the bilateral balances are considered similarly and ij represent the
number of bogie and its ends respectively. The above equation can be written as:
(5-4)
11
(5-5)
namely:
2
11
12
l
2
12
21
2
21
22
2
2
l 22
among which l represent the length of rocker. The following geometrical relationships can
be shown in Fig. 18:
11 12 L sin 6
22 21 L sin 2
Substituted into (2):
12 L sin 6
2
l ( 12 L sin 6 )
12
l
2
12
21
2
21
21 L sin 2
2
l ( 21 L sin 2 )2
(5-6)
Likewise from the geometrical relationships, the following equation can be obtained:
12 21 L sin 4
(5-7)
L
L
L
1
2R
2R
2R
2L
L
1
sin 4 4 sin cos 3
R
2R
sin 6 2(3sin 4 sin 3 )(4 cos 3 3 cos )
L
L
3
R
R
3
2 2
2L
2
2
3L
L
L
1 1
R
2
R
R
115
From the above three equations, given that m=L2/R and substituted in (3), (4)
12 3m
l 2 ( 12 3m)2
12
2
l 2 12
21
2
l 2 21
21 0.5m
l 2 ( 21 0.5m)2
12 21 2m
(5-8)
among which L represent the length of bogie. From the equations (5),
5m 21
2
2 m 21
l (5m 21 )
l (2 m 21 )
21
221
21 0.5m
2
l ( 21 0.5m)2
n (5 )
2
2
n (2 )
0.5
(5-9)
n ( 0.5)2
21 m
22 (0.5 )m
(5-10)
Item
Transverse (m)
Position
Vertical (m)
11
12
21
22
Z11
Z12
Z21
Z22
f11
f12
f21
f22
Outside
track
0.154
0.0106
0.0846
0.1085
0.056
0.0002
0.015
0.026
15.69
0.83
-7.09
-9.54
Inside track
0.156
0.0108
0.0857
0.1098
0.057
0.0002
0.0156
0.027
15.86
0.84
-7.14
-9.37
Table 3. Displacement of suspensor rod tip & Lateral force put on car body
116
From equation (5-9) it can obtain =1.777 and the above parameter table 3. The
electromagnetic guiding forces acting on the bogie 1 and 2 are 33.22K and -33.15KN
respectively, which is the reason why this kind of vehicles must adopt the active guidance
structure.
1.Car body, 2.Secongdary system spring, 3.Rocker arm, 4.Z support for car body, 5.Linkage levitation
magnet, 6.Longeron, 7.Guidance magnet, 8.Suppot arm, 9.Levitation frame unit, 10.Levitation magnet.
117
beams 3, 4 move d11d12 upward in the Z direction. Owing to the immovability of the left
module 9, as the motion of the module 2, the right and left pairs of anti-rolling beams 3-5,4-6
should stagger d11d12 in the Z direction, but the anti-rolling beams are connected by
suspenders 12 which tend to stop this motion.
1. R. levitation magnet, 2.R. module, 3.R. Front Anti-rolling beam, 4.R.rear Anti-rolling beam, 5.L. Front
Anti-rolling beam, 6.L.Rear Anti-rolling, 7.Rear axis of rotation, 8.L. levitation magnet, 9.L. module,
10.Front axis of rotation, 11. Pendular rod
tij
Li
ij
i=1, j=1, 2
ij
Li
ij Sin1
(6-1)
118
ij Cos 1 1
dij
lij
ij Sin1 (
sij
hij
Hi
Hi
(6-2)
(6-3)
(6-4)
Sij
sij
lij
ij Sin1
In above equation (6-3) (6-4), Sij and sij represent transverse motion of end of pendular rod 1j
and 2j respectively, from the above equations
Fig. 22. Z-directional decoupling movement of anti-rolling beam mechanism & oscillation
compensation of suspender
2
tij ij
tij ij 2 Li lij
Sij lij 1 1
1
L
l
Li
tij ij
i ij
sij
hij tij ij
2lij Li
H i Li
tij ij
ij Cos 1 1
tij
Li lij
ij
119
tij ij 2 Li lij
ij Sin1
Li
hij tij ij
ij Sin1
H i Li lij
tij ij
tij ij
2 lij Li
The above equations are the computational formulas of relevant parameters to the Ydirectional rotation and Z-directional translation of the right module. When the right
module is translating in the Z-direction, 11=12 and the calculation of connecting two pairs
of anti-rolling beams is identical. The calculation of X, Y-directional translation and Xdirectional rotation is comparatively simple and the analysis and calculation of the left
module are similar. About these it is unnecessary to go into details.
An example of calculation is given below. Given all relevant geometric
dimensionsON=L=2700OP=t11=2320
lij=200OP=t12=380RM=H1=1200RM=hij=26 and supposed that one end of module
elevates 11=8mm, calculation from the above formula, S11=52, s11=11.3, S12=21.2, s12=4.6,
11=15.1, 12=6.1, 11=2.48, 12=1.01, 11=3.24, 12=1.32.
If the anti-rolling beams and rocker are assembled as sandwich (Fig.7), the oscillation of
pendular rod may be limited, so the width between two anti-rolling beams should be
enough. Take the anti-rolling beam 11 for example (Fig.20 right) and it is not difficult to
conclude that:
w11
'
l11
2l'
S11 width between two anti-rolling beams W11 11 S11 C 11 , among which C11
l11
l11
'
is the diameter of suspender. If l11
75 mm, C11 =20mmand others are same as the above
120
undergone the replacement of many generations. Great strides have also been made in the
kinematic analysis which is closely related to design. However, it is to be so regretted that
contents of this section is involved in the core of structure and competitiveness and this
kind of references are rare, so an brief introduction is given below according to the authors
work.
7.1 Prospects for research on vehicle structures
The most feature parts of maglev vehicle structure are the bogies and secondary suspension
system for the joint of bogies and car body on which the study touches upon the analysis
methods of design and innovation of mechanisms.
1.
2.
3.
121
The kinematic analysis on vehicles includes kinematic analysis methods, modelling and
solutions of kinematics mathematical model, etc.
1.
At present, the simulation method is widely applied and much mature. The analytic method
is still developing and its main direction is to apply the mechanism kinematics theory into
the kinematic analysis of maglev trains, for example, in multi-rigid-body kinematical
analysis on robots, the traces and relative positions of all rigid bodies can be obtained
successively by the determination of the motion trace of input end and D-H transformation,
which is method of open chain analysis. However the problem is that the maglev trains have
no trace of input end which is conveyed in the fourth section of this chapter, so it is
Inappropriate to apply the above method into maglev trains. Another analytic method is to
found an analytic equation set of the whole kinematic chain by combining geometrical
analysis (traces, topological relations among rigid bodies) and equilibrium of internal with
external forces, then the equation set is solved to derive traces (instantaneous positions) and
topological relations of all bodies (relative positions including the relative positions with
traces), which may be called as method of closed-loop analysis. That is to say, the traces of
the whole kinematic chain and its any component are unknown and all unknown quantities
are included in a non-linear equation set. This analytic method is proper to maglev trains
and also universal. In this chapter, the analytical process on two kinds of EMS maglev trains
introduced.
The further studies include that the dynamics vector equations of vehicles can be obtained
by establishing the position vectors equations of spatial traces of all rigid bodies and
derivation of the equations on time. In addition, considering the vehicle is composed of
rigid-elastic bodies, its method of multi-body kinematic analysis is another important and
difficult task.
2.
The analytic method is closely related to modelling, Transformation of areal model into
space model becomes an important branch even though its sense may be restricted in
theoretical category. If the kinematic analysis model of bogies stated in the sixth section is
established based on the theory of spatial mechanism, the motion of binding mechanism of
modules can be understood clearly and more accurate structural design may be guided if
necessary. In addition, the model in the third section can establish the model with the width
of vehicle and track by the method of offset curve.
More accurate models are also the pursuit of researchers, for example, considering the
influence of change of the module Z-directional displacement caused by the adjustment of
electromagnet and elastic elements which may change the kinematic models of maglev
trains.
3.
The solution should not differ greatly from that of mathematic and numerical
solution without much further ado. For maglev trains, their unique features are the
simplification of equations, setting of boundary conditions and precision of
calculation.
122
8. References
Yoshio Hikasa, Yutaka Takeuchi.(1980). Detail and Experimental Results of Ferromagnetic
Levitation System of Japan Air Lines HSST-01/=02 Vehicles[C]//IEEE. IEEE
Transactions on Vehicular Technology, VOL. VT-29, No. 1, February, pp35-41.
J.L. He, D.M. Rote, and H.T. Coffey (1992). Survey of Foreign Maglev Systems[R]. Center for
Transportation Research, Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory,
9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, July, pp13-14
Tejima Yuichi, et al., (2004). Aichi High-speed Traffic HSST-100 Type Vehicle[J]. Vehicle
Technology, 227(3), pp86-97.
Seki, Tomohiro.(1995). The Development of HSST-100L[A]. In: Proceedings MAGLEV95 14th
International Conference on Magnetically Levitated Systems [C]. VDE-Verlag, ISBN-10
3800721554, Berlin, pp51-55.
Maglev Technical Committee.(2007). Vehicle Part I General Requirements, In: Rapid Maglev
System Design Principles [R]. White paper, 12, pp18- 19.
Z.S.Zhao, L.M.Ying.(2007) One Running Gear of Maglev Vehicle: China, ZL03130750.7[p].
24. 10.
Zhao Zhisu, Ren Chao.(2009). Modeling of Kinematics of EMS Maglev Vehicle[J]. Journal of
The China Railway Society.,Vol.31, (4), pp32-37ISSN 1001-8360.
Zhao Zhi-Su, Et al.,(2000) Motion Analysis and Design for Yawing Mechanism of Maglev
Vehicle [J].Electric Drive for Locomotive, (6), pp11-13,30, ISSN 1000-128x.
Mei Zu, Li Jie.(2007). Dynamics Simulation for Yawing Mechanism of Maglev train Based on
Virtual Prototype [J]. Journal of System Simulation, 19 (18), pp 4199-4203, ISSN 1004731x
Jiang Haibo et al.(2007). A Study on Forced Steering Mechanism of Low-speed Maglev
Train[J]. Diesel Locomotive, (4), pp15-18, ISSN 1003-1839.
Zeng You-Wen,Wang Shao-Hua.(2003). Research on geometri- cal curve nigotiating of threetruck maglev vehicle [J]. Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University, 38(3), pp282285ISSN 0258-2724.
Zhang Kun, LI Jie.(2005). CHANG Wensen. Structure de-coupling analysis of maglev train
bogie[J]. Electric Drive for Locomotive, (1), pp 22-39, ISSN1000-128x.
Zhao Chun-Fa, Zai Wan-Ming.(2005). Guidance Mode and dynamic lateral characteristic of
low-speed maglev vehicle[J]. China Railway Science, (1), pp28-32, ISSN 1001-4632.
Sinha P. K.(1987). Electromagnetic Suspension Dynamics & Control [M]. Perter Peregrinus Ltd.,
ISBN 10-0863410634, London.
Luo Kun, Yin Li-Ming, XIE Yun-de.(2004). Analysis on location parameters of line for midlow speed maglev Train Calculation and analysis of gradient[J]. Electric Drive for
Locomotive, (4), pp17-19, ISSN 1000-128x.
Zhao Zhisu.(2009). Researches On Turing Characteristic Of Tilting Suspension High-Speed
Maglev Train[J]. Electric Drive for Locomotive, (1), pp43-45, ISSN 1000-128x.
6
Maglev
Hamid Yaghoubi1,2, Nariman Barazi2 and Mohammad Reza Aoliaei3
2Civil
1. Introduction
Magnetic levitation (maglev) is a highly advanced technology. It is used in the various cases,
including clean energy (small and huge wind turbines: at home, office, industry, etc.),
building facilities (fan), transportation systems (magnetically levitated train, Personal Rapid
Transit (PRT), etc.), weapon (gun, rocketry), nuclear engineering (the centrifuge of nuclear
reactor), civil engineering (elevator), advertising (levitating everything considered inside or
above various frames can be selected), toys (train, levitating spacemen over the space ship,
etc.), stationery (pen) and so on. The common point in all these applications is the lack of
contact and thus no wear and friction. This increases efficiency, reduce maintenance costs
and increase the useful life of the system. The magnetic levitation technology can be used as
a highly advanced and efficient technology in the various industrial. There are already
many countries that are attracted to maglev systems.
Among above-mentioned useful usages, the most important usage of magnetic levitation is
in operation of magnetically levitated trains. Magnetically levitated trains are undoubtedly
the most advanced vehicles currently available to railway industries. Maglev is the first
fundamental innovation in the field of railroad technology since the invention of the
railroad. Magnetically levitated train is a highly modern vehicle. Maglev vehicles use noncontact magnetic levitation, guidance and propulsion systems and have no wheels, axles
and transmission. Contrary to traditional railroad vehicles, there is no direct physical
contact between maglev vehicle and its guideway. These vehicles move along magnetic
fields that are established between the vehicle and its guideway. Conditions of no
mechanical contact and no friction provided by such technology makes it feasible to reach
higher speeds of travel attributed to such trains. Manned maglev vehicles have recorded
speed of travel equal to 581km/hr. The replacement of mechanical components by wear-free
electronics overcomes the technical restrictions of wheel-on-rail technology. Application of
magnetically levitated trains has attracted numerous transportation industries throughout
the world. Magnetically levitated trains are the most recent advancement in railway
engineering specifically in transportation industries. Maglev trains can be conveniently
considered as a solution for transportation needs of the current time as well as future needs
of the world. There is variety of designs for maglev systems and engineers keep revealing
new ideas about such systems. Many systems have been proposed in different parts of the
worlds, and a number of corridors have been selected and researched (Yaghoubi, 2008).
124
Rapid growth of populations and the never ending demand to increase the speed of travel
has always been a dilemma for city planners. The future is already here. Rapid transit and
high-speed trains have always been thought of and are already in use. This is the way
further into the future. Trains with magnetic levitations are part of the game. Conventional
railway systems have been modified to make them travel at much higher speeds. Also,
variety of technologies including magnetic levitation systems and high-speed railway (HSR)
systems has been introduced. Rapid development of transportation industries worldwide,
including railroads and the never ending demand to shorten travel time during trade,
leisure, etc. have caused planning and implementation of high-speed railroads in many
countries. Variety of such systems including maglev has been introduced to the industry.
Maglev trains are a necessity for modern time transportation needs and vital for the future
needs of railways, worldwide. This has resulted in the development of a variety of maglev
systems that are manufactured by different countries. Maglev systems currently in use have
comparable differences. The current models are also changing and improving.
Industries have to grow in order to facilitate many aspects of modern day life. This comes
with a price to pay for by all members of socities. Industrial developments and
widespread use of machineries have also increased risks of finanicial damages and loss of
lives. Safety and needs to physically protect people against machineries may have not
been a priority in the past but they are neccessities of modern times. Experts of industries
have the task of solving safety and protection issues before implementing machineris.
This is a step with high priority for all industrial assignments. While being fast, relaible
and comfortable, maglev systems have found special places in minds of people. Running
at such high speeds, maglev sytems have to be safe and need to be renown for safety. This
puts much heavier loads on the shoulders of the corresponding experts and managers,
compared to some other means of transportation. Safety is knowingly acting with proper
functions to provide comfort and reduce dangers, as much as possdible. Risk
management techniques have a vital role in organizing and implementing proper acts
during incidents, accidents or mishaps in maglev systems operations. Effective
management has a specific place in such processes. Obviously, such plannings put
considereable finanicial load on the system. Implementation of internationally accepted
standards is a fundamental step toward uplifting track safety. It will also serve to improve
route quality, increase passenger loads and increase speed of travel. Maglev vehicle is one
of the important transportation equipment of the urban track traffic system toward the
future (Wang et al., 2007).
The overall plan for research and development and application of maglev technology
should be made at the national level. This plan shall include the development plans as to
research and development of key maglev technology, project implementing technology
research and development of maglev project, plans of building maglev passage based on
traffic demands, investment and financing system for the construction and operation of
maglev system, research on implementing plans of high-density operational organization
and maintenance of maglev route and so on.
It is very important to be vigilant about economical aspects of any major project during its
planning and construction phases. Optimal use of local resources must be all accounted for.
Technical and economical evaluation of the projects is a necessity to their success. It is
necessary to have prior knowledge for investing into a project and then implementing its
goals. Good planning makes it feasible to run the projects with reduced risks and increased
return for the investment.
Maglev
125
2. Vehicle
Maglev suspension systems are divided into two groups of ElectroMagnetic Suspension
(EMS) and ElectroDynamic Suspension (EDS). There are varieties of vehicles that are
manufactured based on these two types of systems. Vehicle path in EMS and EDS systems
are called guideway and track, respectively. Basically, there are two main elements in a
maglev system including its vehicle and the guideway. The three primary functions in
maglev technology are levitation, propulsion, and guidance. Magnetic forces perform all of
these. Magnets are used to generate such magnetic forces. For EMS systems, these magnets
are located within the vehicle while for EDS systems magnets are located in the track.
Performance of EMS system is based on attractive magnetic forces, while EDS system works
with repulsive magnetic forces. In EDS system, the vehicle is levitated about 1 to 10 cm
above the track using repulsive forces as presented in Fig. 1. In EMS system, the vehicle is
levitated about 1 to 2 cm above the guideway using attractive forces as presented in Fig. 2.
In EMS system, the electromagnets on the vehicle interact with and are attracted to
levitation rails on the guideway. Electromagnets attached to the vehicle are directed up
toward the guideway, which levitates the vehicle above the guideway and keeps the vehicle
levitated. Control of allowed air gaps between the guideway and vehicle is achieved by
using highly advanced control systems. Figs. 1, 2 show the components of the guideway and
track including levitation and guidance systems in aforementioned maglev systems.
126
Maglev
127
In 2005, China built its own maglev train. This train reached to the test speed of 150km/hr
over a track length of 204m. In February 2006, Chinese government announced that they
decided to extend Shanghai maglev to Hangzhou city the capital of Zhejiang province. It
would create the worlds first intercity maglev line. The project will be managed by a
German consortium leaded by Siemens Company. This route is of 170 to 175 km in length.
The Ministry of Railways chief planner said in March 2010 that China had agreed to build a
maglev line between Shanghai and Hangzhou. The line will start construction this year,
Xinhua news agency reported. The new link will be 199.5 kilometers, about 24 kilometers
longer than that included in the 2006 plan. The top speed of the maglev will be 450
kilometers per hour. It will take about half an hour to travel from Shanghai to Hangzhou, a
trip which usually takes one and an half hours on the current service. The new line will also
contain a downtown section of about 34 kilometers which is expected to connect the city's
two international airports, Pudong and Hongqiao.
Maglev transport system features its potential development in a region with fast
growing demand of intercity travel, such as the Shanghai maglev transport system (Yau,
2009). Growth of maglev technologies originated from humans pursuit of travel speed.
Since the past 80 years, a number of scientists have made several researches on the
feasibility of applying this transport technology. Eventually, they have realized
commercial operation in Shanghai, China. Since China has a large population, the
demand of applying this technology not only comes into being in the intercity longdistance transport but also in the city traffic field, which is mainly materialized in the
low-speed technology and light vehicles (Siu, 2007). The Shanghai maglev line solved
many important problems concerning the practical use of maglev transportation system.
It has proved that the maglev technology is mature and can be put into practical
application with good safety and reliability (Luguang, 2005). The construction data and
operational experience of Shanghai maglev route create quite advantaged conditions for
the application of maglev technology in China. It is also a blessed advantaged condition
for research and development of maglev technology of China. Therefore, to share and
make full use of the experiences and technical data of this operational route at national
level may promote the research and development progress of maglev technology in
China (Baohua et al., 2008).
In field of low-speed maglev systems, the National Defense University and the South
South-West Jiaotong University worked for a long time for the development of the system
similar to Japanese HSST. The Beijing Enterprises Holdings Maglev Technology
Development Co. together with the National Defense University built a CMS-03 test
vehicle and a 204m long test line with minimum radius of 100m and maximum climbing
of 4% in 2001 in Changsha. Up to now, the vehicle traveled over 7000 km with over
20,000-test run and 40,000 times start and stop operations, its safety and reliability are
proved. Recently, based on the test results a new engineering prototype vehicle has been
constructed. It is planned to build a 2 km test and operation line in Kunming, after all
necessary testing is finished. The whole system can be accepted for real urban application
in 3-5 years (Luguang, 2005).
Technical specifications of high-speed and low-speed maglev trains are presented in Table 1
and 2, respectively (Yaghoubi & Sadat Hoseini, 2010).
128
Country
German
Japan
System
TRI
Railway
Technical
Research
Institute
(RTRI)
and
JR
(Japan
Railways)
Central
EMS
EDS
Attractive
force
Repulsive
force
Vehicle
Year
TR06
392
1987
TR07
450
1993
TR08
500
1999
(German)
SMT
501
2003
(Shanghai)
TR09
350
2008
ML-500R
517
1979
MLU001
405
1980-1982
MLU001
352
1980-1982
MLU002
394
1987
MLX01
550
1997
MLX01
552
1999
MLX01
581
2003
At low
speed and
even at
TR08
standstill
At speeds
higher
than
100km/hr
CarSpeed
body
129
Maglev
Country
U.S
System/
Project
Magne
Motion
Vehicle
M3
Suspension
Max. Operation
Speed (km/hr)
Max. Initial
Acceleration
(m/s2)
Capacity
(pphpdf)
EMS
Passenger
Capacity
(One Car)
Air gap
(mm)
Service Brake
Max.
Deceleration
(m/s2)
Emergency
Brake Max.
Deceleration
(m/s2)
Car-body
Number of
Bogies in each
Car body
Number of
Magnets in each
Bogie
length of each
car body (m)
Car width (m)
Car height (m)
Vehicle weight
(ton)
U.S
GA
(General
Atomics)
U.S
CDOTa
U.S
U.S
Korea
Indonesia
Japan
/
ODUc
M2000
MOCIEd
Jakarta
HSSTe
AMTb
HSST100L
EDS
HSST-200
Colorado
200
EMS
EMS
EDS
EMS
EMS
EMS
160
80
200
64
110
110
100
1.6
1.6
1.1
12000
12000
6000
100
100
Seated:
103
Standin:
100
Seated:
50-100
100
Seated: 33
Standing:
67
Total:100
20
25
10
100
10
1.6
1.6 (standing)
2.5 (seated)
1.25
1.1
3.6
3.1
1.25
1.1
13
24.3
13.5
20- 30
13.5
13.5
15
2.6
3.2
3.3
28.5
28.5
3.65
3
Empty:
19.5-27
75%
Loaded:
23.5- 36
3.5
3.53
28.5
Empty: 21
75%
Loaded:
27.5
Empty: 12
75% Loaded:
17.6
44
Empty:
11.5
130
3. Guideway
The guideway is the structure that maglev vehicles move over it and are supported and guided
by it. Its main roles are: to direct the movement of the vehicle, to support the vehicle load, and
to transfer the load to the ground. It is the function of the guideway structure to endure applied
loads from the vehicle and transfer them to the foundations. It is the main element in maglev
system and holds big share of costs for the system. It is vital for maglev trains. The cost of the
guideway structure is expected to be 60-80 percent of the overall initial capital investment cost
(Zicha, 1986; Uher, 1989; Cai et al., 1994; FTA, 2004; Ren et al., 2009). Maglev train levitates over
single or double track guideway. Guideway can be mounted either at-grade or elevated on
columns and consists of individual steel or concrete beams. Elevated guideways occupy the
least amount of land on the ground. Moreover, with such systems there is guarantee of meeting
no obstacle while along the route. To guarantee safety for maglev trains necessitates guarantee
that there will be no intersection between guideway and other forms of traffic routes. To serve
the purpose, general proposition is to have elevated guideways.
Guideway provides guidance for the movement of the vehicle, to support the vehicle load, and
to transfer the load to the ground. In maglev guideways contrary to traditional railroad tracks,
there is no need to ballast, sleeper, rail pad and rail fastenings to stabilize the rail gauge. A
guideway consists of a beam (girder) and two levitation (guidance) rails. Guideways can be
constructed at grade (ground-level) or elevated including columns with concrete, steel or
hybrid beams. Maglev elevated guideways minimize land occupation and prevent collision
with other forms of traffic at-grade intersections. Guideways are designed and constructed as
single or double tracks. Guideways can be U-shaped, I-shaped, T-shaped, Box, Truss and etc.
Majority of cross-sections of guideway girders are also U-shaped. The rail gauges (track
gauges) and spans are mostly 2.8 m and 24.8 m (Type I), respectively.
During the past three decades, different guideways have been developed, constructed and
tested. Technical specifications of guideways for Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in U.
S. Department of Transportation and TRI in Germany are presented in Table 3 (FTA, 2004,
2005a) and Table 4 (Schwindt, 2006), respectively. The guideway for the Transrapid in the
Shanghai project was realized as a double-track guideway in 2001 and 2002. This Hybrid
guideway is generation H2, type I as single-span (24.8 m) and two-span (2 x 24.8 m) girders.
The Shanghai guideway I-shaped hybrid girder is 24.8m long, 2.8 wide, 2.2m high with a
reinforced concrete girder (Schwindt, 2006; Dai, 2005).
Guideway consists of superstructures and substructures. Fig. 3 shows components of
guideways superstructures including beam and levitation (guidance) rails in an EMS
maglev system where L is span length in meters and H is girder height in meters.
Depending on height of the guideway, it is separated in:
-
131
Maglev
System
Guideway
Girder
Column
Span
Length of
Span (m)
Crosssection
Width of
Girder (m)
Height of
Girder (m)
Magne
Motion
Elevated
Concrete
Concrete
Twospan
36
Box
1.6
ODU (a)
Elevated
ConcreteConcrete Single-span
Steel
25-27.5
Inverted-T
Colorado
Elevated
Concrete
25
U-shaped
Concrete Single-span
20 to 30
Box
2.972
3.66
(at midspan)
5.49
(at the
supports)
Concrete Single-span
30
Truss
Single/Two
span
36
Box
1.7
1.98, 1.22
ConcreteSingle/Two
Concrete
Steel
span
Colorado
Elevated
Colorado
Elevated
Steel
GA (b)
Elevated/
at-grade
Hybrid
Concrete
No.
Guideway
Girder
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Elevated
Elevated
Elevated
Elevated
Elevated
Elevated
Elevated
Ground-level
(at-grade)
Ground-level
(at-grade)
Elevated
Ground-level
(at-grade)
Ground-level
(at-grade)
Elevated
Elevated
Elevated
Ground-level
(at-grade)
Ground-level
(at-grade)
Ground-level
(at-grade)
Concrete
Steel
Concrete
Steel
Steel
Concrete
Steel
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Column
Length of
Year of
(elevated)/
Generation Type
Span
Span (m) Installation
Support (at-grade)
Concrete
C1
I
Single-span
24.8
1981-83
Concrete
S1
I
Single-span
24.8
1981-83
Concrete
C2
I
Single-span
24.8
1984-86
Concrete
S2
I
Single-span
24.8
1984-86
Concrete
S4
I
Two-span
24.8
1995
Concrete
C4
I
Single-span
24.8
1995
Concrete
S4
II
Two-span
12.4
1997
Steel
Concrete
S4
II
Two-span
12.4
1997
Steel
Concrete
S4
III
Two-span
6.2
1997
Concrete
Concrete
Single-span
24.8
Concrete
Concrete
Two-span
Concrete
Concrete
C4
III
Two-span
6.2
1998
Hybrid
Hybrid
Hybrid
Concrete
Concrete
Concrete
H1
H2
H2
I
I
I
Two-span
Two-span
Single-span
31
24.8
24.8
1999
2001
2002
Concrete
Concrete
C5
II
Single-span
9.3
2005
Concrete
Concrete
C8
III
Two-span
6.1
2006-2007
Hybrid
Concrete
H3
II
Single-span
12.4
2006
132
133
Maglev
The guideway height varies smoothly between 1.45 m and about 20 m. For greater
guideway heights or span lengths larger than 40 m primary structures are needed in the
form of conventional bridges. For substructures such as columns or foundations, reinforced
concrete is proposed. The substructures for the guideway girders consist of several
components. These are, depending on guideway type and gradient height, the column
heads with bearing supports, the columns, tie beams and intermediate beams and the
foundation slabs. They are built onto the natural soil, soil with soil improvement and/or on
piles. The dimensions of the reinforced concrete substructures result from the high demands
on the permissible deformations of the substructures (Grossert, 2006).
Different types of existing maglev magnetic suspension systems and technical specifications
of existing guideways are presented in Table 5. As seen in this table, the majority of the
maglev suspension systems are of electromagnetic suspension type. This table shows the
most commonly used guideway structures and suspension systems. As indicated in the
table, majority of guideway are elevated, double-track and U-shaped. The track gauges and
spans are also mostly 2.8 m and 24.8 m, respectively.
Maglev systems
Suspension
Section
Track (rail) gauge
Guideway
Span length (elevated)
Maximum number
of tracks in a route
(guideway structure)
Maximum percent
of tunnel in a route
Shanghai
China
Transrapid
Germany
HSST
Japan
JR
Japan
U.S
Korea
Different
types
EMS
EMS
EMS
EMS
EDS
(mostly
EMS)
Different
U-shaped U-shaped
I-shaped Types (mostly U-shaped Inverted TBox
U-shaped
U-shaped)
shaped
Truss
2.8 m
2.8 m
1.7 m
2.8 m
1-2.972 m
2.8 m
Elevated
Elevated
GroundElevated Elevated
Elevated Ground-level Elevated
level
(at grade)
(at grade)
24.8 m mostly 24.8 m
30 m
mostly 25 m 25-30 m
Double
track
Double
track
Double
track
Double
track
Double
track
Double
track
22%
15%
87%
134
Frequent studies on the technical characteristics of beams shows that the following are
among the reasons for frequent use of U-shaped cross-sections in majority of projects
(Yaghoubi & Ziari, 2010):
-
In general, in beams with closed cross-sections like box or U-shaped with continuous
deck, the torsion is reduced. Also, structural continuity in cross-section reduces
deflections due to vertical loads and possibly allow for higher speeds.
The U-shaped beams have less deflection compared to other types of cross-sections.
Cost of design, construction, installation and operation of U-shaped concrete beams
compared to welded steel box girders and tubular steel space truss guideways is lower.
Welding in steel box girders will cause a cost hike. Truss guideways also require many
full penetration welds to insure the truss integrity under loadings, and this in turn
would cause another cost hike.
The continuity of the girder and the deck and the lack of need for installation of
horizontal shear connectors between the concrete girder and the deck, in contrast to the
railroad bridges.
The U-shaped cross-sections are ideal as far as structural and strength (ultimate
strength) are concerned.
More centroidal moment of inertia and the section modulus of U-shaped cross-sections
among cross-sections of equal sectional-area, including the I-shaped.
Lower torsion of U-shaped cross-sections (as a closed cross-section) relative to other
cross-sections including the I-shaped (as an open cross-section).
Lower weight and volume (concrete used and lower dead load) of U-shaped crosssections relative to other sections including the I-shaped.
And generally, the U-shaped cross-sections are technically, operationally, economically,
more satisfying.
It is geometrically simpler to design railway tracks without horizontal or vertical curves and
without longitudinal or lateral inclinations. Practically, this does not happen very often.
When tracks have to be laid in mountain ranges, engineers have to design horizontal and
vertical curves and axial and lateral slops. While passing through horizontal curves
centrifugal forces are added to other forces already present. Centrifugal forces are generated
due to curves and tend to push the vehicle further away from the centre of the curve. The
centrifugal forces also transmit efforts to the track pillars. In fact these forces are generated
in the track and the main components to resist them are the track pillars. If the track or part
of it is located in a horizontal curve, the effect of centrifugal forces needs to be included for
the calculation proposes. These forces act horizontally and in a direction perpendicular to
the tangent to horizontal axis of the track. Normally, track superelevation is added to the
guideway to compensate these centrifugal forces. Regarding the structure, presence of
centrifugal forces on the horizontal curves disturbs the balance of magnetic forces acting on
the guideway. Therefore, it is necessary to make allowance for such effects when analyzing
and designing for guideways on the curves. An important effect of introducing centrifugal
forces on the horizontal curves is the unsymmetrical distribution of vertical loads on the
guideway. This causes different calculation procedures for guideways on the curves
compared to the straight routes.
The maglev can easily handle tight curves and steep grades of up to 10 %, resulting in fewer
tunnels and other encroachment on the terrain (Siemens AG, 2006). The main task of route
Maglev
135
alignment is to stipulate the geometry of the guideway's function planes in such a way that
the passenger enjoys maximum travel comfort when a vehicle travels on the guideway.
Apart from acceleration, however, a consideration of changes in acceleration is also an
important aspect of comfort. An exception to this is the track changing equipment, where,
on the basis of the beam theory, the transition curve of the turnout position is also in the
form of a clothoid in the horizontal plane. When route alignment, including determination
of the spatial curve, is carried out, these or other aspects are taken into account, as well as
the system's characteristics (Schwindt, 2006).
It is well known that torsion has particular significance on the curved bridges. A box section
has a special advantage for a curved guideway because of its high torsion rigidity. A curved
steel box girder guideway can provide longer curved spans with fewer supports than would
be required for I girders, thereby creating greater cost savings in the substructure. For a
given design speed and superelevation, the minimum radius of the circular portion of the
horizontal curve may be determined based on either the passenger comfort criteria (lateral
acceleration) or the vehicle stability criteria, depending on which criterion results on the
smallest curve radius.
In the Colorado system, the passenger comfort criterion is based on the American Society of
Civil Engineers (ASCE) People Mover standards. These standards provide a maximum
recommended lateral acceleration on the passenger. The lateral acceleration is a function of
the velocity and the radius of curvature. In addition to passenger comfort, the stability of the
vehicle itself needs to be considered in the relationship between allowable curve radius and
superelevation. Fabrication of the curved guideway sections is not widely discussed in
maglev system literature. However, it is a central element of the guideway construction
technique and can become a major consideration in the guideway cost (FTA, 2004).
When the vehicle travels on a straight piece of route, gravity is the most influential load
acting on it. If the vehicle has geometrical symmetry and is loaded symmetrically, the
gravity load passes through guideway axis of symmetry. When the vehicle travels on the
curves, the centrifugal force will also be added to this effect.
Ideally, if there is adjustment for superelevation on the curve, loads exerted from vehicle to
the guideway are symmetric and loading pattern will not be different from that of a straight
route. However, on the curves with insufficient superelevation loading pattern will be
different. While the principals of calculating the guideway loading on the curves and the
straight routes are basically the same the main differences arise due to insufficient
superelevation on the curves. This results in different amount of loads being applied to the
guideway for both cases. Eccentricity caused by such effects, makes load on internal and
external levitation rails different. It is clear that as a result of eccentricity due to insufficient
superelevation the portion of load transmitted from vehicle to each one of the internal and
external levitation rails will not be equal. It is vital for the guideway loading calculations to
depict a proper pattern for its loading.
3.1 Loading
The most important part in the analysis and design of guideway is structural loading. The
loading of the maglev vehicle is an important parameter in the practical application. It is
related to the magnetic forces (He et al., 2009). The guideway must carry a dead load due to
136
its own weight, and live loads including the vehicle loads. To incorporate the dynamic
interaction between the guideway and the vehicle, the live load is multiplied by a dynamic
amplification factor. Lateral and longitudinal loads including wind and earthquake loads
may also need to be considered. The guideway loadings are modeled as dynamic and
uniformly distributed magnetic forces to account for the dynamic coupling between the
vehicle and the guideway. As maglev vehicle speeds increase to 300-500 km/h, the dynamic
interactions between vehicle and guideway become an important problem and will play a
dominant role in establishing vehicle suspension requirements. Magnetic forces are
generated by the maglev vehicle and cause structural loading that transmits to the
guideway. This can happen whilst such a vehicle is stationary or in motion. In order to
prevent contact between the vehicle and the guideway and maintain the required gap
between them, the system is continuously under Operation Control System (OCS)
command.
Some decisive factors for the design of maglev guideways are listed as being constructible,
durable, adaptable, reliable, readily maintained, being slim in accordance with urban
environment and being light to be constructed more efficiently (Jin et al., 2007; Sandberg et
al., 1996a, b). In this regard, one of the main challenges to guideway designers is to produce
a structure that will be easily maintainable to the narrow tolerances and precise alignment
required for practical high-speed maglev operation, to achieve a structure which is
economically and financially justifiable and attractive (Plotkin at al., 1996a ,b). Besides
satisfying the above conditions, important parameters in the design of guideway include
vertical live loads and its pursuant dynamic amplification factors (DAF), plus deflection due
to this load. These parameters constantly govern the design process, and they play a major
determining role in the structural optimization of the guideway girder systems.
Vehicle/guideway interaction of the maglev system is an important and complicated
problem. It is influenced by the levitation system, guideway structure, vehicle mechanical
structure, running speed, etc. So the investigation of it should be launched out in many
aspects (Wang et al., 2007). Among the various parameters which affect on design of maglev
guideway, dead and live loads, dynamic amplification factor and deflection have major
importance. Assessment of deflections due to the vertical loads for guideway beam during
operation of maglev vehicle is very important. It is the most influential parameter in design
of guideway (Lee et al., 2009).
While there are routine processes for the calculation of the guideway dead loading, there is a
need for special treatment in the calculation of its live loads. Live load intensity and its
distribution patterns are highly dependent on the structural behavior. According to AREMA
(American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association) and UIC
(International Union of Railways) regulations live load models for conventional railway
track are based on a combination of concentrated and distributed loads. This is compatible
with the use of wheels and the behavior of locomotives in conventional trains. In the case of
trains with magnetic levitation with no wheels and added complexity of lifting magnetic
forces due to support magnets, the analysis is much more complicated.
The forces are of attractive magnetic forces and can be categorized as lifting magnetic forces
and lateral magnetic forces. The lateral magnetic forces include the restoring magnetic
forces, the impact forces, etc. on the straight route and the restoring magnetic forces, the
Maglev
137
wind forces, the earthquake forces, the centrifugal forces, the impact forces, etc. on the
curved route. Lateral magnetic forces due to interaction of the guideway and the guidance
magnets ensure the lateral stability of the vehicle. Lateral guidance is provided by the
configuration of the vehicle-guideway interface and by the levitation electromagnets. The
horseshoe configurations of the electromagnet and levitation rails provide strong lateral
restoring forces when perturbed from equilibrium (FTA, 2004). Guidance magnets are
located on both sides along the entire length of the vehicle to keep the vehicle laterally stable
during travel on the guideway. Electronic control systems assure the preset clearance.
The mechanical load at a specific point of the structure depends on its location within the
car body, but not on the overall length of the vehicles or the position of the car body within
the vehicle set. The interaction forces are the magnetic forces that can be derived from
magnetic suspension models. Fig. 6 schematically presents locations for interactions
between the vehicle and guideway. In this figure, (a) presents location for interaction
between support magnets of the vehicle and the guideway levitation rail; (b) presents
location for interaction between guidance magnets of the vehicle and guideway levitation
rail.
138
Items
Span Length
(m)
25
25
25
30
25
30
25
30
25
30
30
30
Girder Height
(m)
1.51
1.99
1.402
1.625
1.515
1.837
1.794
2.183
1.991
2.320
2.5
1.92
Dead load
(ton/m)
2.948
3.460
2.68
3.10
2.95
3.28
3.16
3.63
3.46
4.05
7.733
5.531
25
2.20
5.732
25
2.06
3.544
25
1.90
4.256
30
18
1.45
1.5(a), 3.5(b)
1.82
14.8
139
Maglev
In general, DAF is not a deterministic value and must be estimated through probabilistic
methods. The amount of DAF depends on several parameters including the geometry of the
guideway such as length of span, type of span (single-span or multi-span), etc.
Span Length, L
(m)
24.82
Maximum Speed
(Km/h)
500
Maximum
DAF
1.4 (a)
24.82
500
1.56
27
500
1.4
1.2
27
500
1.36(b)
30
500
1.37
100
1+15/(40+L)
25
110
100
AASHTO LRFD
Bridge Design Specifications
(Dai, 2005)
1.33(c)
5
10
15
20
25
30
36
1=1.35 2=1.53
1=1.2 2=1.31
1=1.14 2=1.21
1=1.10 2=1.16
1=1.08 2=1.125
1=1.06 2=1.09
1.5
Items
Bechtel (Lever, 1998)
TR07, Transrapid,
Germany (Lever, 1998)
Maglev Transit (Lever, 1998)
Grumman (Lever, 1998)
New (corrected)
Grumman (Lever, 1998)
(Dai, 2005)
UTM01, Korea
(Yeo et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2009)
Urban Maglev, Korea (Yeo et
al., 2008)
200
(a) The Bechtel report indicates that this is a conservative value is used to design the girder (Lever,
1998).
(b) Calculated using diagrams of static vehicular loading and dynamic vehicular passage over
guideway (Lever, 1998).
(c) In AASHTO LRFD Bridge Deign Specifications, the dynamic allowance (IM) for highway bridge
design is 0.33 (the corresponding dynamic amplification factor is 1.33) (Dai, 2005).
(d) With track maintenance to accurate standards and criteria. 1: For Shear Force and 2: For Bending
Moment.
Table 7. Dynamic Amplification Factor (DAF) for some typical maglev guideways
The interaction force (dynamic lifting magnetic force) between the i-th bogie in each car
body and the guideway is transferred to two levitation rails. Due to the uniform distribution
of the load on the levitation rails, the loading pattern on the guideway spans can be
considered as a uniform distributed load.
The amount of live load of some different maglev systems are presented in Table 8.
140
Span Length
(m)
25
25
Live Load
(ton/m)
2.3
2.3
Deflection Regulation
(m)
L/2000
L/4000
25
2.6
L/2000
30
1.78
2.3
30
2.2
-
L/1500
20<L 25m : L/1500
25<L : (L/25)1/2L/1500
L/4000
L/1000
25
2.4
L/4000
25
1.86
L/4000
25
2.5
L/3000
30
30
2.3
2.3
2.2
Items
Urban Maglev Program, Korea
(Jin et al., 2007)
Urban Maglev Program, Korea
(Yeo et al., 2008)
Linimo, Japan (Jin et al., 2007)
Maglev
141
force between each bogie in each car body and each of the levitation rails is also uniformly
distributed. If bogie lengths in each car body are the same, as normally is the case, then the
total interaction force intensity between each car body and the guideway is equal to the
interaction force intensity between the i-th bogie in each car body and the guideway over
the length of bogie. Also, in such case, the total interaction force intensity between each car
body and each of the levitation rails over the length of each car body is equal to the
interaction force intensity between the i-th bogie in each car body and each of the levitation
rails over the length of each bogie. Each maglev vehicle involves some (one to ten) car
bodies with different lengths. Hence, maximum interaction force intensity between car
bodies and the guideway can be considered as maglev live load. In general, maglev live
loading is evenly and uniformly distributed. The amount of maglev live load is generally
less than the dead load of its guideway. Also, the uniformly distributed live load of maglev
applied to each levitation rail over the length of live loading.
3.1.2 Lateral magnetic forces (lateral loads)
In the static case, lateral (guidance) magnetic forces do not exist. However, during vehicle
movements and while it moves to the sides, interaction of guidance magnets and levitation
rails brings the vehicle back to its central stable position. This causes lateral magnetic forces.
These lateral forces act in lateral and normal directions to the levitation rails and transmit to
the guideway. When the vehicle deviates to the right, guidance magnets on the right side of
horseshoe shaped section of the vehicle and levitation rail on the right side of guideway
attract each other while guidance magnets on the left side of horseshoe shaped section of the
vehicle and levitation rail on the left side of guideway repulse each other. This brings the
vehicle back to its stable position. At the location of interaction between guidance magnets
and levitation rails, forces in the left and right zones are of the same size and act on the same
direction to the guideway.
One of the main advantages of the elevated transportation systems such as maglev is the
high resistance of their tracks in dealing with the earthquake forces. Earthquake forces are
included in the guideway design for Shanghai in China (Dai, 2005) and in Japan. There is no
report of major earthquake in central Europe. Therefore, German Transrapid TR07 has
ignored such effects, all together (Lever, 1998). Earthquake lateral forces imposed on maglev
guideway are less than that of the railroad bridges.
Irregular earth movements generate such forces that can be capable of damaging the man
made structures. The size of such forces depends on the nature of the earthquake, the
natural period for the bridge structural vibrations and the natural period for vibrations of
the soil under the foundation. For the design of the exceptional bridges with very large
spans or for the bridges that are near the earths fault lines, calculations for the earthquake
forces depend on some detailed studies. One may use the static analysis for the design of
small to medium size bridges. Dynamic bridge analysis however, needs huge number of
calculations that are economically formidable and sometimes turn to be impossible. On the
other hand, the quasi static approach uses a load (or an impact) factor that converts the
dynamic loads into the static loads. Therefore, such method assumes static equilibrium
when determining the structural behavior. The load (or the impact factor) comes from the
experiences, engineering judgment and from mathematical models.
142
Guideways must endure the earthquake lateral forces in two perpendicular directions. They
need to also transfer the lateral forces to the guideway foundations in both directions. These
two directions normally include the guideway longitudinal axis and the direction
perpendicular to it. The guideway columns must endure the earthquake forces caused by
the guideway weight in addition to enduring the earthquake forces that are related to the
columns weight. The later force comes from multiplying the earthquake factor by the weight
of the columns. The earthquake factor is the same factor that is also used for the calculation
of the earthquake force. For the calculation of the earthquake lateral force, if the size of the
live load is less than half of the size of the deal load, the live load will be ignored. Otherwise,
two third of the summation of the dead and live loads on the guideway needs to be
accounted for. While calculating the earthquake lateral force for urban maglev guideways,
at least half of the live load must be included.
Generally, the wind effect depends on the geographical position of the district, its altitude
from the sea level, the local topography and to some geometrical characteristics. For the
guideway static calculations, regardless from the number of the tracks the wind force affects
only one maglev vehicle.
The interaction force (dynamic lateral magnetic force) between the i-th bogie in each car
body and each of the levitation rails is defined by the summation of the interaction forces
(dynamic lifting magnetic force) between the i-th bogie in each car body and each of the
levitation rails and the wind or the earthquake lateral force, whichever that turns to be
bigger. The earthquake lateral force also includes a DAF.
Lateral forces on the maglev guideway can be caused by the vehicle sliding, particularly on
curves. Lateral guidance is provided by guidance magnets. The dynamic lateral magnetic
force imposed on the guideway can be considered as a uniformly distributed load.
Centrifugal forces, in equal speed and curve radius, are less in maglev due to lower weight
of the vehicle than in rail tracks.
3.1.3 Longitudinal loads
In recent years, with increasing traveling speed of the rail systems, aerodynamic load
problems became very important. From the system point of view, aerodynamical topics
which affect and define the interface between rolling stock, infrastructure and operation are
of paramount importance and the corresponding loads increase with the vehicle speed. If
maglev vehicles pass in close proximity to each other or move close to fixed objects such as
barriers or buildings, the aerodynamic interactions can produce significant loads on the
vehicle or the fixed object. The magnitude and duration of the load depends on the velocity
and geometry of the vehicles and also on the ambient wind speed and direction. For highspeed railroads several studies have examined the loads produced by passing trains and
their potential for causing an accident. The results of these studies show an important
pressure load acting on the object which can have serious consequences. The experiments
were carried out on conventional railroad vehicles but from the system point of view, in
principle, the aerodynamics of a maglev and a high-speed railroad system do not differ.
Although the safety aspect does not concern the maglev vehicle as strongly as it concerns
conventional railroads, because maglev is guided by magnets on both sides and cannot
derail, many aspects are similar. In both cases, the interaction of vehicles and infrastructure
Maglev
143
implies aerodynamic system issues, e.g. that of train induced aerodynamic loads leading to
structural vibrations and a decrease of ride comfort. The pressure load caused by passing
maglev vehicles has an important aerodynamic effect on the sidewall motion and therefore
on the ride comfort (Tielkes, 2006). While two vehicles are passing each other at high
relative speed, the quasi-static pressure distribution along each vehicle presents a dynamic
load on the other vehicle. The dynamic pressure load strongly depends on the velocity of
the oncoming vehicle, the geometry of the bow-part of the oncoming vehicle and the
distance between the two tracks. The time behavior is given by the relative velocity between
the two vehicles. The mechanical load on the car body depends mainly on:
i.
ii.
144
study. A beam model with a uniform-cross-section was used. They found that a distributed
load vehicle model was better than a concentrated load vehicle model which might result in
vehicle accelerations in simulations. They concluded that multi-car vehicles had less car
body acceleration than a single-car vehicle, because of the inter-car vertical constraints.
However, a magnetic suspension model is not included in their study. The interface
between the vehicle and the beam was modeled with an elastic spring and dashpot, which is
not the case in a real maglev system (Cai et al., 1996). In 1995, Nagurka and Wang
developed a dynamic maglev model which includes a five DOF vehicle model. The effects of
the vehicle speed on the system performance were studied (Nagurka et al., 1997). In 2005,
Huiguang Dai influenced by German TR08 maglev, defined a vehicle model, a magnetic
suspension model and a beam roughness model. He studied dynamics of a single-car
vehicle model with 4 bogies and a three-car vehicle model with 12 bogies. He used an
elevated guideway with multiple concentrated moving loads. A total number of 500
simulations were performed to study the dynamic behavior of maglev vehicle and
guideway beam (Dai, 2005).
Although extensive simulations and analyses have been performed, the development of
design criteria for maglev guideways will require additional studies. Aerodynamic forces
must be considered. Effects of horizontal curves should be considered. Maglev trains may
be extended to 4 or more cars (Dai, 2005). Maglev vehicle/guideway interaction problem
bothers the investigators and engineers for years. No well-accepted interpretation has been
reported, yet. Vehicle/guideway interaction of the maglev system is an important and
complicated problem. It is influenced by the levitation system, guideway structure, vehicle
mechanical structure, running speed, etc. So the investigation of it should be launched out in
many aspects (Wang et al., 2007).
During the past four decades, research and development have been performed in the areas
of magnetic levitation, interaction of vehicle with guideway, and optimization of vehicle
suspensions. The results of these efforts are useful in providing appropriate criteria for the
design of maglev systems. The dynamic response of magnetically levitated vehicles is
important because of safety, ride quality and system cost. As maglev vehicle speeds increase
to 300-500km/h the dynamic interactions between vehicle and guideway become an
important problem and will play a dominant role in establishing vehicle suspension
requirements. Different dynamic responses of coupled vehicle/guideway systems may be
observed, including periodic oscillation, random vibration, dynamic instability, chaotic
motion, parametric resonance, combination resonance, and transient response. To design a
proper vehicle model that provides acceptable ride quality, the dynamic interaction of
vehicles and guideways must be understood. The coupled vehicle/guideway dynamics are
the link between the guideway and the other maglev components. Thus, reliable analytical
and simulation techniques are needed in the design of vehicle/guideway systems.
Furthermore, a coupled vehicle/guideway dynamic model with multiple cars must be
developed to meet system design requirements.
For a dynamic analysis of vehicle/guideway interactions, an understanding of the effects of
distributed loads is essential. The maglev vehicle is the source of magnetic forces and
loading starts from this vehicle. These forces transfer to the guideway while the vehicle is
stopped or when it moves. Each car body model can be considered as a uniform rigid mass.
It is supported by two to eight springs and two to eight dashpots that form the secondary
Maglev
145
suspension for maglev vehicle. The primary suspension consists of two to eight
magnetically supported bogies. Maglev vehicle can be single-car or multiple-car.
Magnetic levitation is caused by magnetic forces that transmit to guideway by maglev
vehicle. In fact, these forces are the consequence of interactions between vehicle and
guideway caused by magnets. For EMS systems, these magnets are installed within the
vehicle. The forces are of attractive magnetic forces. Lifting magnetic forces due to
interaction of guideway and support magnets cause the levitation of the vehicle. Support
magnets are located on both sides along the entire length of the vehicle. The attractive force
produces inherently unstable vehicle support because the attractive force increases as the
vehicle/guideway gap decreases.
The interaction forces are the magnetic forces that can be derived from magnetic suspension
models. Static load on guideway generally consists of the vehcile weight. In either case, the
dead load is uniformly distributed along the full length of the beam. Calculations of live
load need more attention. Dynamic lifting forces are derived from static lifting forces.
Therefore, accuracy of these models is vital to the accuracy of live load models. Combination
of these models plus the live load models leads to the analysis and design of guideway. In
static position or while maglev vehicle is resting on its guideway, thickness of the air gap
between vehicle and guideway is nil. Therefore, total load of vehicle weight will be
transmitted to the guideway. As a result, the interaction force (total static lifting magnetic
force of each car body) between each car body and the guideway is the static weight of the
vehicle. Each car body is equipped with nb bogies. Thus, the total interaction force is
summation of interaction forces (static lifting magnetic forces) between the i-th bogie in each
car body and the guideway. Interaction force (dynamic lifting magnetic force) between each
bogie in each car body and the guideway is a uniformly distributed live load. Load
uniformity comes from absence of the wheels and presence of lifting magnetic forces with
uniform intensity that is generated by support magnets. Maglev live loading is evenly and
uniformly distributed. Amount of maglev live load is generally less than dead load of its
guideway.
These forces transfer to the guideway while the vehicle is stopped or when it moves. Each
car body model can be considered as a uniform rigid mass. It is supported by two to eight
springs and two to eight dashpots that form the secondary suspension for maglev vehicle.
The primary suspension consists of two to eight magnetically supported bogies. The
electromagnets are mounted on the rigid bogies and generate attractive magnetic forces
while interacting with ferromagnetic stator packs. Connections between magnets and bogies
are assumed to be rigid. Two dimensional motions of the vehicle include heave motion and
rotational motion. Maglev vehicle can be single-car or multiple-car. For example, a singlecar vehicle with four bogies has 6 DOF including one translational and one rotational
displacement at the center of mass of the car body, and one translational displacement for
each of the four bogies. By the same token, a three-car vehicle with four bogies in each car
body has 18 DOF. A dynamic simulation for maglev vehicle/guideway interaction is
essential to optimize the vehicle design.
A variety of these parameters are presented in Table 9 for different types of maglev
systems.
146
Maglev
System/
Model
CHSST, Colorado,
Japan
U.S.
(FTA,
(FTA,
2002,
2002,
2004)
2004)
Number of
car body in
the vehicle
Length of
each car
body,
in meters
13
13.7
18
25
24.8
24.8
24
15
24.38
24.38
Number of
bogies in
each car
body
147
Maglev
Parameter
Compressive strength at initial prestressing
Compressive strength just after prestressing
Tensile strength just after prestressing
Compressive strength under design load
Tensile strength under design load
Description
0.8fck
0.55fci
0.75fci
0.4fci
1.50fci
Unit
MPa
MPa
MPa
MPa
MPa
148
Up till now, different proposed regulations for deflection ratios due to live load such as
L/500, L/1000, L/1500, L/1750, L/2000, L/2500, L/3000, and L/4000 have been proposed.
In the Transrapid maglev systems generally beams are designed for the deflection ratios due
to live load of L/4000 which is the optimum in design terms and in terms of economic
efficiency (Jin et al., 2007; Lever, 1998; Schwindt, 2006). The allowable deflection ratios due
to live load of some different maglev systems, a high-speed railway and conventional
railroad bridges are presented in Table 11 where L is the span length.
Items
Korea(a)
(Jin et al., 2007)
Proposed Girders(b)
(Jin et al., 2007)
A Proposed Girder(c) (Yeo et al., 2008)
Linimo, Japan (Jin et al., 2007)
Linimo, Japan (Yeo et al., 2008)
AGT, Korea (Jin et al., 2007)
Transrapid, Germany (Jin et al., 2007)
KIMM, Korea (Jin et al., 2007)
Expo Park, Korea (Jin et al., 2007)
UTM01, Korea (Yeo et al., 2008)
TGV(d) -Atlantique (Lever, 1998)
TR07 (Lever, 1998)
Bechtel (Lever, 1998)
Foster-Miller (Lever, 1998)
Grumman (Lever, 1998)
Magneplane (Lever, 1998)
Colorado, U.S. (FTA, 2004)
CHSST, Japan (FTA, 2004)
(Dai, 2005)
Railroad Bridge
Dynamic Deflection
Regulation (m)
L/1500
L/1500
L/2000
L/2000
L/3000
L/3000
L/4000
L/4000
L/2000
L/4000
L/2000
L/1500
20<L 25m : L/1500
25<L : (L/25)1/2L/1500
L/1000
L/4000
L/4000
L/3000
L/4000
L/4000
L/4000
L/2500
L/2300
L/2500
L/2000
L/1750
L/1750
L/4000
L/800
Table 11. Allowable deflection due to live load for some typical maglev systems
Maglev
149
4. Station
Stations have emerged as a new central place in metropolitan cities and have become hub of
networks due to their high accessibility by different modes of transport in high scale level.
Furthermore, they produce movements which offer sufficient opportunity for the
development of commercial land use. Railway stations entered a new age again in the late
20th century after the introduction of high-speed trains. Stations play a very important and
influential role in the maglev transport system. The efficacy of the maglev system over the
national and regional development depends on the stations. The development hub of
maglev system mainly formed around stations.
Transportation facilities are both collectors and distributors. The overall goal of these transit
stations is to collect and distribute as many passengers as possible with a minimum amount
of confusion and inconvenience. Stations should have the capacity to accommodate large
concentrations of passengers at various times throughout the day. The stations activities
consist of everything from passenger service to the maintenance of the building. It is
important to provide the traveler with a pleasant experience and atmosphere that will
hopefully lead to repeat business in the future. The station should be able to provide for all
of the modern conveniences to better serve the employees as well as the weary travelers.
The important idea is to be able to get the people to their next destination as quickly as
possible, and if a wait happens to occur then the station should be equipped to
accommodate the passengers needs (Stone, 1994).
Maglev stations are key regional transportation facilities designed to provide access for high
volumes of passengers. The Maglev stations will provide regional and local intermodal
connections, as well as national and international connections to passenger facilities. The
aesthetic features of the stations are intended to reflect the intrinsic values of the Maglev
system: advanced technology, movement, and speed. The conceptual design calls for openair stations with natural light and ventilation.
Fundamentally, a maglev station is equivalent in planning, design, and operation to an
inter-city or commuter railroad station. There is only one technical aspect of maglev that
constrains station design: unlike railroad tracks, the maglev guideway cannot be crossed by
passengers and vehicles at grade. As a result, maglev station designs must provide gradeseparated passenger access to the station platforms. This form of access requires vertical
circulation (stairs, elevators, escalators) to connect the platforms with tunnels under or
bridges over the tracks. Stations should provide the proper functions of typical transit
stations, including platforms, Shelter, Vertical and Horizontal circulation, Amenities and
Services, Climate controlled waiting room, Public restrooms, Snack service, Public
telephones, Changeable message display, Safety. All the station designs are planned to be
consistent with the character of the buildings in the area of operation or predicated on the
community standards of the local area where each station is located. The station must
support the safe movement of passengers at specified flow rates and must also support
particular levels of vehicle traffic. Based on the patron markets the following elements,
features, and design standards should be common to all maglev system stations, regardless
of location or patronage volumes. The expression of these standards will vary and
additional features may be added, depending on station location.
150
Maglev
151
Platforms will be elevated, allowing direct access through train doors without steps or
ramps. No free passenger access to the guideway will be permitted, for safety reasons. This
is mandatory due to the speed and low noise profile of maglev systems. The use of docks
and in-station transfer switches means that passing trains, while not necessarily in close
proximity to platforms, could injure anyone who strayed into the active main guideway. For
vertical circulation all maglev system stations will provide escalators and elevators as the
primary elements and stairs as the backup.
The station services, including public rest rooms, snack service, newsstand, staffed ticketing
and information center, and public telephones should be provided. Stations should also
provide facilities (shops, changing rooms, luggage storage, etc.), access to traveler services
such as station cars, and advertising displays. All stations would feature public art
appropriate to their locations. Public art is an excellent adjunct to station design and a
popular feature. Train and station operations require the station personnel and security.
Station managers and ticket agents control the station activities, providing passenger
assistance and information as well as inspecting train sets when in station. Armed security
personnel are provided at every station. Large stations have multiple security personnel,
and parking garages are policed (FTA, 2004).
5. Operation
5.1 Performance
The most important task or essential aim when designing the alignment is to specify the
geometry of the guideways functional planes so that the passenger traveling in the vehicle
on the guideway experiences optimum comfort during the journey. The geometry defines
the limit values for accelerations in the three spatial directions (X, Y, and Z direction).
However, apart from the acceleration, the consideration of the change in acceleration (jerk)
is also an important aspect for comfort. Therefore, various mathematical formulae were
discussed for the transition curves and lengths, with the result,
An exception are the track switching devices which, based on beam theory, are also
designed using clothoids for the horizontal transition curves in the turn-out position. The
alignment is designed and the space curve established taking into consideration the aspects
given above as well as the system characteristics, e.g.
The space curve data are used in the next design phase as the design criteria for
152
The reductions in speed in the track course result from slopes, where the residual
acceleration abilities do not maintain a high speed. Based on faster acceleration, the
operation speed of the maglev can be smaller than that of the ICE3 in order to achieve the
same running time. The primary energy demand that is relevant for the comparison
between different means of transport averages under the examination of the current power
mix as 2.5 times the secondary needs (Witt et al., 2004).
5.2 Propulsion system
Electronic control systems control the clearance (nominally 10 mm). The levitation system
uses on-board batteries that are independent of the propulsion system. The vehicle is
capable of hovering up to one hour without external energy. While traveling, the on-board
batteries are recharged by linear generators integrated into the support magnets.
A synchronous, long stator linear motor is used in the Transrapid maglev system both for
propulsion and braking. It functions like a rotating electric motor whose stator is cut open and
stretched along under the guideway. Inside the motor windings, alternating current is
generating a magnetic traveling field that moves the vehicle without contact. The support
magnets in the vehicle function as the excitation portion (rotor). The speed can be continuously
regulated by varying the frequency of the alternating current. If the direction of the traveling
field is reversed, the motor becomes a generator which brakes the vehicle without any contact.
In accordance with Lenzs Law, the interaction of the levitation field with the current in the
slots of the rail results in propulsion or braking force. During the motion of the magnet
along the rail, the linear generator winding of the main pole is coupled with a non-constant
flux, which induces a voltage and reloads the on-board batteries. The generation process
begins in the range of 15 km/h and equals the losses of the magnetic suspension systems at
90 km/h. The whole energy losses of the vehicle are compensated at a velocity of 110 km/h
and the batteries are reloaded. Thus the levitation magnet integrates three tasks: levitation,
propulsion and transfer of energy to the vehicle (Dai, 2005).
The superhigh-speed Transrapid magnetic levitation system is powered by a synchronous,
ironcored long stator linear motor which in contrast to the classic railroad is not installed
on board the vehicle but in the guideway along the route. The special features of the long
stator linear propulsion system enable its dimensions to be individually adapted to the
running requirements of the route as well as to specific operating concepts.
The structure of the propulsion system developed for revenue service comprises a number
of components, which are located along the guideway. These drive components are
temporarily switched together to form the propulsion units necessary to permit maglev
operation over the guideway. A propulsion unit remains in the switched configuration for
as long as a vehicle is operating within the corresponding control range (drive control zone).
It is capable of driving, accelerating and retarding one maglev train. A prolusion unit
comprises the line section itself and, depending on the type of power supply selected, one or
two propulsion blocks. The propulsion blocks are housed in substations, the latter being
situated beside the guideway and spaced at a maximum distance of 50 kilometers. A
substation for a single guideway contains one or two propulsion blocks, the necessary
power supply and the decentralized operations control equipment (Fig. 8). A substation for
a dual guideway simply is composed of two single-guideway substations.
Maglev
153
154
The task of the power supply system is to supply all components of the Transrapid system
with the demanded power. The main consumer naturally is the propulsion system; others
are the power rail supply for the on-board supply of the vehicle, the auxiliary power supply
for the propulsion control system as well as the operation control system, the guideway
switches and the reactive power compensation.
The components of the Power supply system (PS) are installed in substations where the
main components of the propulsion system and the decentralized operation control system
are installed, too and in transformer stations, which are both located along the guideway.
The distance between the substations and transformer stations mainly depends on the
characteristic data of the operating program and system layout, such as speedtimediagramm, minimum interval between maglev vehicles, stations, and auxiliary stopping
areas. Furthermore, the availability of the power supply system is a very important
stipulation for the power supply system layout.
The propulsion system and power supply for Shanghai Maglev Transrapid Project is based
on the structures described above and is designed according to the requirements of the
transportation system. The main requirements for a transportation system are:
track length
passenger capacity
travel time to destination
maximum waiting time for passengers at the stations
alignment
comfort criteria
speed profiles
operation concept including headway times
availability, reliability
Maglev
155
156
10 minutes. The propulsion and power supply system has been specially configured for this
service frequency. Although SMT is only 30km long, the test results show it has excellent
characteristics of power-energy consumption/speed and it is the best tool for long distance
transportation.
Maglev
157
rescue concept influences the extent of the required properties so that the effects on the
planning approval procedure are given immediately. The examples of protection against
going off and rescue concept clearly show how safety concept and planning approval are
connected with each other. This means that the development of a safety concept must be at
the beginning of the planning process of a maglev system. However, changes of the route
course may occur because of others than for safety reasons, so that corresponding
customizations of the safety concept can become necessary at a later date.
The factors affecting transportation safety and security are various, among which, the
physical structure and guideway security patrols play significant roles. Elevated guideways
can be operated safety and efficiently (Liu & Deng, 2003). A means will be required to
transfer passengers from the emergency walkway to the ground unless rescue vehicles are
used to remove passengers from the walkway. The proposed method of egress from the
emergency walkway is a pair of hinged stairways located within one guideway span where
the walkway beam would be discontinuous. The stairways would be hinged at the end of
the walkway beam and would be attached to dampers that would control the lowering of
the stair. The passengers would need to activate a manual release mechanism and then the
stair would lower by gravity, slowed by the dampers. The stairways would need to be
located at intervals that are a reasonable walking distance. An interval of 0.40 kilometers has
been assumed for cost estimating purposes. Signs would be mounted on the emergency
walkway that direct passengers to the stairways and indicate the distance from their present
location. Figs. 10 to 13 and Fig. 14 show required facilities while emergency situations for
Colorado maglev project in the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), U.S. and
MOCIE maglev project in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Energy of Korean
Government (MOCIE), respectively (FTA, 2004, 2005a).
158
Maglev
159
160
Operation control system (OCS) is the part of an overall maglev system that integrates all
subsystems like operation control center, guideway elements, stations, maintenance areas,
propulsion and power supply, and vehicles. An OCS contains all components and functions to
control and monitor the safe maglev operation. OCS allows control of the vehicle movements
and guideway elements both manually and automatically. On the base level, OCS provides all
the safety functions generally known in railway signaling, e.g. vehicle locating, guideway
switch control, route protection (interlocking), and automatic vehicle control including speed
profile monitoring. There are some crucial differences between OCS and most existing railway
signaling systems. All vehicle control and vehicle detection (vehicle locating) functions are
purely communication-based, using a highly available radio system. Only the safe vehicle
brake is used by OCS for emergency braking if the service brake is failed. Emergency systems
are mechanical. They act simultaneously if there is an emergency. Each system is controlled by
separate component of on-board computer. Emergency systems are independent on each
bogie. Each component in the system checks the others. Each component controls at least one
of the braking systems. The interior has been designed to concentrate upon the urban
commuters convenience and safety. Whole interior fittings such as panel, floor and seats are
made of non-combustible material comply with international fire and safety standards, (Fig.
16) (FTA, 2005a). There are also some innovative safety functions like minimum speed profile
monitoring which guarantees the availability of designated stopping points in the event of
power shut-offs, transmission failures or hardware faults.
Maglev
161
The operation control system (OCS) monitors and controls the various subsystems,
integrating them to form a safe, automated overall system. (Kron Hans, 2006b).
6.4 Safety life-cycle
The risk analysis pertaining to the safety concept for maglev vehicles, which is a key
document, is an important criterion in the implementation process for the entire project in
accordance with the DIN EN 50 126 life-cycle model, (Fig. 17). The European railway lifecycle standard DIN EN 50126 defines a process, based on the system life-cycle including
RAMS management. It is applicable to modifications of existing systems in operation prior
to the creation of the standard, although it is not generally applicable to other aspects of the
existing system (Steiner & Steinert, 2006).
Verification - to determine by analysis and test that the output of each life-cycle phase
meets the requirements of the previous phase
Validation - to demonstrate by analysis and test that the system meets in all respects its
specified requirements
Safety assessment
162
criterions are included. In fact, this part surveys technical advantages of the maglev systems
over the HSR systems.
Mobility and transportation infrastructure is a primary need for the population. They
guarantee a high grade of freedom and quality for the citizens, for their work and leisure
time. Infrastructure is an important location factor in the regional and global sense. It
strongly influences the development of the society and the growth of the national
economies. The mobility of individuals is impossible without an equivalent volume of traffic
and transportation infrastructure. Against the background of increasing energy
requirement, limited fossil resources and ever-growing CO2-loads, the road traffic may not
be the adequate answer for the challenges of the future developments. It is necessary to
establish integrated and sustainable traffic systems for the effectively and environmentally
acceptable handling of traffic (Naumann et al., 2006). Cities developments lead to a
considerable increase of the road, a capacity overloads of road traffic network, and an
increase of stresses for people and environment. The transport policy must be faced up to
this challenge and take appropriate measures in time. A major vision is the development
and implementation of rapid transit systems, which can relocate certain parts of road and air
traffic to these systems and to enhance growth of congested urban areas and coalescence of
the area (Schach & Naumann, 2007).
The congestion in transportation modes associated with increased travel has caused many
problems. These problems include the public concern, among which are prolonging travel
time, growing accident rates, worsening environmental pollution, and accelerating energy
consumption. On the contrary, high-speed ground transportation, characterized by high
speed, operating reliability, passenger ride comfort, and excellent safety record, is
considered one of the most promising solutions to alleviate the congestion. There are two
distinguished technologies, HSR and maglev. Both provide higher operating speed.
However, they have dramatically different technical specifications. Various organizations
in the world are facing difficult decisions, when choosing or settling on a specific
technology, in a particular corridor. Due to the complexities of HSR and maglev
technology, it is not an easy task to select the most efficient technology in any given
corridor.
A new rapid transit system influences the society, the industry and the ecology in various
manners. A HSR or maglev system must prove its advantages. Therefore, extensive and
detailed studies must be carried out. It must be examined in an intense planning process,
with feasibility studies. The criterions for the decision must be evaluated in a multi-criteria
procedure. This process delivers a master plan for new construction of the transportation
network. The plan for the research and development of a rapid transit technology should be
made at the national level. The study focuses only on the technical comparison of these
technologies. For a comprehensive comparison, a lot of criterions are included. It leads to a
wider consideration and the development of the technical comparison. It comprehensively
compares the characteristics of HSR and maglev in detail in different aspects. These aspects
include geometrical requirements, speed, acceleration, RAMS, environmental impacts,
energy consumption, noise emission, vibration level, land use, loading, etc. The obtained
results clearly indicate that the maglev generally possesses better technical advantages over
HSR.
Maglev
163
Rapid transit system is a definition that covers both HSR and maglev. It is defined as an
intercity passenger transit system that is time-competitive with air and/or auto on a doorto-door basis. This is a market-based, not a speed-based, definition: it recognizes that the
opportunities and requirements for high-speed transportation differ markedly among
different pairs of cities (Liu & Deng, 2004). The fundamental reason for considering the
implementation of rapid transit systems is higher speed, which can easily equate to shorter
travel time. Therefore, there is a need to look at the technical specifications of each
technology. This examines the potential improvement of each technology in terms of speed,
travel time and other advantages.
HSR trains represent wheel-on-rail passenger systems. These trains currently operate at
maximum speeds of about 350 km/h in China, and have been tested at 574 km/h in France.
Examples of HSR trains include the French Train Grand Vitesse (TGV), the Japanese
Shinkansen, the German Intercity Express (ICE), the Spanish AVE, etc. Maglev is an
innovative transportation technology. It is the first fundamental innovation in the field of
railway transportation technology.
HSR and maglev systems are each developed for specific purposes. Selection of the
appropriate technology will depend primarily on acceptable funding levels, transportation
objectives, and implementation schedule (Najafi & Nassar, 1996). Rapid transit systems
must fulfill the major elements of the transport politics. The main aims consist in the
increase of speed in the transportation corridors, flexibility, environmental acceptance, ride
comfort, stresses (noise, pollutions, and vibrancies), etc. The two existing rapid transit
systems must be evaluated and compared against the background of these requirements
and the traffic demands.
HSR and maglev are guided ground transportation modes with very large capacity, and
both use electric power from the utility grid for propulsion. They also exhibit some
fundamental differences that distinguish them as very separable transportation modes.
Maglev systems offer the unique combination of technical attributes. These include light
weight vehicles, centralized and fully automated control of propulsion systems, nonreliance on adhesion for vehicle acceleration and braking forces, and the ability to operate
with consists of as little as single cars. These cars carry fifty to one hundred passengers
without the need for highly-skilled operators. The ability to use single or double-car allows
even relatively small markets to be given high frequency, reliable service. This together with
frequent, highly reliable service, are required to attract new ridership and divert passengers
away from their cars. The maglev technology attracts a significantly greater ridership and
provides more benefits than HSR systems.
Fig. 18 shows a classification to compare the different parameters for the rapid transit
systems in this research. The paper focuses only on the technical comparison of the maglev
and HSR systems. For a comprehensive comparison, a lot of criterions are included. It leads
to a wider consideration and the development of the technical comparison. The purpose of
this research is not to recommend one technology over the other. Actually, both
technologies are highly advanced and have some advantages. However, this research
surveys technical advantages of the high-speed maglev systems over the HSR systems
(Yaghoubi, 2011; Yaghoubi et al., 2011).
164
Maglev
165
long distances and against passenger cars at distances starting of 100 kilometers. In contrast
to maglev, HSR is only conditionally able to compete with passenger road and air traffic at
shorter distances between approx. 150 and 350 kilometers (Naumann et al., 2006).
7.1 Geometrical requirements
Although the guideway has the different procedure with the manufacturing and
examination, its geometrical requirements and criteria can be compared with railway tracks.
The engineering rules of guideway geometry specification define the requests at the
function planes of the guideway and their permissible deviations from the nominal values.
These tolerances are valid for a guideway girder, finished equipping and under load of dead
weight of the girder. The geometrical examination occurs to the outfit of the girders with the
functional components in the manufacturing plant. Based on the defined space curve
geometry, the deviations to that can be represented graphically. A comparable criterion of
the wheel-on-rail system is the internal, shortwave geometry. This is with 2 mm related to 5
m length indicated in each case for layout (y-direction) and height (z-direction).
Standardized onto a consideration length of 1 meter the comparative value turns out 1.5
mm/m at the maglev and 0.4 mm/m at the wheel-on-rail-system. It results from that this
tolerance request is significantly higher at the wheel-on-rail system. The tolerance requests
at the geometry are approximately identical with both systems. The comparison of the
geometrical requests between the maglev and wheel-on-rail shows that similar tolerance
requests are made. During the change of the inclination at the wheel-on-rail, track system is
approximately 4-times higher as the maglev guideway (Suding & Jeschull, 2006).
7.2 Performance
Based on little wear and tear, the maintenance of the maglev system is less than that of the
HSR systems. Due to high operating speed and acceleration, abilities and the low
maintenance expenses maglev can reach very high operation performances (Kncke, 2002).
Maglev generally has an advantage over HSR in terms of travel speed. The operating speed
of maglev is about 45% higher than that of the HSR trains (Liu & Deng, 2004). The limited
speed of HSR is always the main concern of railway professionals. Resistance increases as
the speed increases, which limits the increase of speed of HSR. On the contrary, high-speed
potential is an inherent characteristic of the maglev technology.
If the speed of each mode plays a key role in the travel time comparison, acceleration and
deceleration rate is an even more important factor in terms of safety spacing and average
travel speed over certain distances. The maglev vehicle accelerates quickly to higher speeds.
Acceleration and braking capabilities of the maglev system result in minimal loss of time for
station stops. The vehicles reach high operating speeds in a quarter of the time and less than
one quarter of the distance of HSR systems (AMG, 2002).
A maglev vehicle with acceleration/deceleration rate of 1 m/s2 can obtain the maximum
speed in much less time and space than HSR trains. For example, the distance required for
the maglev vehicle to accelerate to 300 km/h from a standing start is just about 4-5
kilometers, while HSR trains require about 20-23 kilometers and over twice the time to reach
the same speed. Therefore, this advantage of the maglev system results in much less loss of
the time for the station stops. The German TR08 maglev vehicle takes 265 s and 19.3 km for
166
the acceleration to achieve the speed of 500 km/h, which are less and shorter than the
corresponding values 370 s and 20.9 km for ICE03 train to achieve 300 km/h. The
deceleration time and distance via maglev are both shorter so it can maintain ideal speed
much longer. The eventual travel time via HSR doubles that of maglev even though the
analysis only presented about 50% difference (Liu & Deng, 2004; Witt & Herzberg, 2004;
Baohua et al., 2008).
The maglev vehicles can easily overcome uphill gradients and slopes with inclinations up to
10 % comparing to a maximum 3.5 % - 4 % for the HSR trains. In general, the maglev vehicle
can climb grades from 2.5 to 8 times steeper than HSR trains with no loss of speed.
Embankments and incisions are necessary for the compensation of the small ability of
climbing and the constructive design of the guideway. This can lead to a considerable land
use. The maglev vehicles can negotiate 50-percent tighter curves (horizontal and vertical) at
the same speeds as HSR trains. They can travel through a curve of the same radius at much
higher speeds than HSR trains. For example, the maglev vehicle can cant up to 16. The
minimum curve radius of the maglev guideway under the speed of 300 km/h is also 1590
2360 m, which is smaller than 3350 m of HSR tracks (AMG, 2002; Liu & Deng, 2004; Dai,
2005; Jehle et al., 2006; Stephan & Fritz, 2006; Baohua et al., 2008).
Resulting from the greater propulsion performance, the maglev systems offer not only a
higher travel speed but also a higher acceleration and deceleration level. The maglev
accelerates very well and almost constantly with 0.9 m/s. Its maximum speed of 450 km/h
is reached within 3 min. The ICE train requires nearly 5 min until it reaches its maximum
speed of 300 km/h. Moreover, the maglev vehicle may run approaches to the stop stations
in urban surrounding with a speed of 250 km/h due to its low noise emissions and
vibrations. The pure running time difference of both systems regarding a line length of
approximately 300 km from Berlin to Prague amounts of 29 minutes (50 % more) (Stephan &
Fritz, 2006).
Table 12 shows the results of comparison between a maglev train and a HSR train from
operational viewpoint (Schach & Naumann, 2007; Liu & Deng, 2004; Witt & Herzberg, 2004;
Kncke, 2002; Baohua et al. 2008).
7.3 Reliability, availability, maintainability and safety
An important issue in the proper operation of rapid transit systems is the reliability,
availability, maintainability and safety (RAMS). RAMS is the item that needs to be
considered in any new rapid transit system establishment. This item is the factor that affects
the passengers mode choice decisions and is important for project evaluation. Safety is
amongst most important factors for ensuring operational of integrity high-speed trains.
Maglev is one of the safest means of transportation in the world. The concept of maglev has
essentially eliminated the safety risks associated with the operation of HSR systems. The use
of a dedicated and separated guideway without intersections with other transportation
modes such as roads and highways ensures no safety conflicts and allows uninterrupted
maglev operations. The maglev technology has essentially eliminated the safety risks
associated with the operation of rapid transit systems. Compared to the operating
experiences of HSR, the maglev technology has a scarce record. On the other hand, the
German Transrapid Test Track in Elmsland has been operating for more than 20 years and
167
Maglev
Parameter
Operational
maximum speed
Sections per vehicle
Seats (on average)
Length (total)
Capacity
Maximum engine
performance
Power Requirement at
Constant Speed of
200
300
400
500
Net weight vehicle
Weight / Seat
Maximum
longitudinal gradient
Acceleration
Acceleration
0- 100
0- 200
0- 300
0- 400
0- 500
Unit
InterCityExpress (ICE) 3
ICE-03
the type series 403
Transrapid
Shanghai Maglev
TR-08
SMT
the type series TR 08
km/h
until 300
until 450
8
415
200
8: 850
5 (from 2 to 10 possible)
446
128.3
10: 1192
8.000
approx. 25.000
kW
MW
km/h
km/h
km/h
km/h
ton
kg
409
Approx. 930
Train Sections
6
2.2
5.0
10.3
18.7
247
Approx. 550
3.5
10
m/s2
m/s2
km/h
km/h
km/h
km/h
km/h
maximum 1,0
Distance (m)
Time (s)
constant 1,5
Train Configuration
Train Size
Section Length
Section Width
Section Height
Payload / Section
Seats / Section
Floor Space / Section
Weight / Seat
Number of Sections
Seats (high density)
Seats (low density)
Passengers
Curve Radii
Minimum
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
2
0.9
2.2
4.4
8.2
m
m
m
ton
m
kg
ton
m
km/h
km/h
km/h
km/h
km/h
km/h
km/h
km/h
4400
20900
Driving
Trailer/
End Car
2
25.68
2.95
3.84
140
370
Distance (m)
424
1700
4200
9100
22700
Time (s)
31
61
97
148
256
Trailer
Car
End Section
Middle Section
6
24.78
2.95
3.84
10
3.6
7.9
16.1
-
2
26.99
3.70
4.16
10.3
62-92
70
500 700
2
184
124
20.6
4
436
292
48.4
0-8
24.77
3.70
4.16
13.9
84-126
77
400 600
6
8
688
940
460
628
76.2
104
350
705
1100
1590
2160
2825
3580
4415
Table 12. Comparison between two German trains of ICE-03 HSR and TR-08 maglev
10
1192
796
131.8
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close to a million passengers have ridden around the 40-kilometer closed loop. The maglev
vehicle wraps around the guideway beam so it is virtually impossible to derail.
Redundancies achieved through the duplication of components as well as the automated
radio-controlled system ensure that operational safety will not be jeopardized. The principle
of synchronized propulsion on the guideway makes collisions between vehicles virtually
impossible. In general, no other obstacles can be in the way. If two or more vehicles were
ever placed simultaneously in the same guideway segment, they would be forced by the
motor in the guideway to travel at the same speed in the same direction. The vehicles are
also designed to withstand collisions with small objects on the guideway. Energizing only
the section of the guideway on which the train is traveling enhances operational safety and
efficiency. The maglev vehicle is absolutely weatherproof and masters wind and adverse
weather easily. Regarding the aspect of fire protection the maglev vehicle meets the highest
requirements of the relevant standards. No fuels or combustible materials are on board. All
used materials within the vehicles are PVC-free, highly inflammable, poor conductors of
heat, burn-through-proof and heat-proof. The fire proof doors can be optionally used in
order to separate the vehicle sections. The system is controlled in all the directions of the
movement to ensure ride comfort throughout all the phases of the operation. The seat belts
are not required, and passengers are free to move about the cabin at all speeds (AMG, 2002;
Kncke, 2002; Liu & Deng, 2004; Dai, 2005).
7.4 Energy consumption and space requirement
With non-contact technology, there is no energy loss due to the wheel-guideway friction.
The vehicle weight is lower due to the absence of wheels, axles and engine (low mass of
approx. 0.5 t per seat). In terms of energy consumption, the maglev vehicles are better than
HSR trains. The maglev consumes less energy per seat-mile than HSR trains due to the
utilization of lightweight materials and improvement in the advanced technology. The
energy consumption of the maglev system with its non-contact levitation and propulsion
technology, highly efficient linear motor and low aerodynamic resistance is very economical
when compared to other transportation modes. The high-speed maglev system consumes 20
to 30 percent less energy per passenger than the very modest railroad. With the same energy
input, the performance of the maglev system is substantially higher than HSR systems (Liu
& Deng, 2004; Kncke, 2002).
As consumers of energy, the transportation sectors are vulnerable to environmental and
global warming concerns and the increasing volatile oil market. Reducing dependency on
foreign oil is also an important criterion. The system of the external power supply over the
contact rail causes higher investment and operational costs. The energy costs of the maglev
vehicle despite higher design speed, is lower than that of ICE3 train (Witt & Herzberg,
2004). The maglev vehicles running at 400 km/h has lower environmental impact indicators,
such as system energy consumption, waste gas discharges, site area and the like, then the
ICE trains running at 300 km/h (Baohua et al., 2008). They also have low running resistance
of approx. 0.2 kN per seat at 400 km/h (Kncke, 2002).
Maglev is one of the first transportation systems to be specially developed to protect the
environment. The system can be co-located with existing transportation corridors and needs
a minimum amount of land for the support of the guideway beams. Use of the elevated
guideway minimizes the disturbance to the existing land, water and wildlife, while flexible
Maglev
169
alignment parameters allow the guideway to adapt to the landscape. Compared to roads or
railway tracks, especially the elevated guideway does not affect wildlife movement. Even
the ground-level guideway allows small animals to pass underneath due to the clearance
planned under the guideway. Compared to all other land-bound transport systems, the
maglev requires the least amount of the space and the land. The land area required for a
ground-level double-track by either maglev or HSR systems is about similar so it is 14 m2/m
and 12 m2/m, respectively. But for an elevated double-track guideway, approx.
2 square meter of land is needed for each meter of guideway (Schwindt, 2006). Considering
the densely populated and limited land resources, an elevated structure is a preferred
choice. The traffic effects on the land-use have been always considered by urban planner
and transportation engineers. In the center of metropolitan areas with large economic
activities, such as Mashhad, the increase of traffic volume has indirectly cost. It includes
wasting time and damages such as environmental pollution.
7.5 Pollution
As maglev is electrically powered, there is no direct air pollution as with airplanes and
automobiles. The maglev causes lower CO2 emissions. It is also easier and more effective to
control emissions at the source of electric power generation rather than at many points of
consumption. Maglev is the quietest high-speed ground transportation system available
today. Due to its non-contact technology, there is neither rolling nor gearing or engine noise.
The frictionless operation of the maglev vehicle reduces vibration and maintenance
resulting from wear. Comparing the noise levels at different speeds, the maglev vehicle is
much quieter than the HSR trains. For example, The German TR07 maglev vehicle can travel
about 25 percent faster than existing HSR trains before reaching the peak noise restrictions
of 80 to 90 dBa. Such an advantage in speed will yield reduced the trip times along the
noise-limited routes, which is most urban areas. At the speeds up to 200 km/h, the noise
level compared to other noises from the surroundings can hardly be heard. At 250 km/h,
the pass-by noise level is 71 dB(A), and from 250 km/h upwards, the aerodynamic noises
begin to dominate the noise level. The result is that, at the speed of 300 km/h, the system is
no louder than a light rail vehicle, and at 400 km/h, the noise level can be compared to a
conventional train traveling at around 300 km/h. Even when at respective high speeds, data
also indicates that maglev vehicle is 5 to 7 dBa quieter than the HSR train (Liu & Deng, 2004;
Dai, 2005; Schwindt, 2006). The American JetTrain HSR train is almost twice as noisy as the
maglev vehicle at the similar operational speeds (AMG, 2002). The results of the noise
measurements of the TR08 Maglev System may be compared with similar data, documented
by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA, 1998), for other high-speed ground
transportation systems (FRA, 2002a). The noise analysis associated with the Shanghai
maglev train shows that the system is quieter than high-speed railway trains for comparable
distances from the track (Chen et al., 2007).
A field experiment was conducted, to investigate the possible differences in perceived
annoyance of noise caused by high-speed trains, both HSR and maglev. These results were
evaluated for the TGV train at speeds of 140 km/h & 300 km/h and for the maglev vehicle
at speeds of 200 km/h, 300 km/h and 400 km/h. The LAeq-annoyance relationships
determined for the HSR and for the maglev train did not differ significantly. This study has
shown that the noise annoyance caused by different types of trains at the same average
170
outdoor faade exposure level is not significantly different. In particular, the magnetic
levitation systems are not more annoying than the HSR trains, which is in agreement with
earlier research (Coensel et al., 2007).
Whatever the kind of transport system, a passing maglev vehicle always creates ground
vibrations due to dynamic loading of the track. Depending on the speed, load transfer, load
dispersion and the nature of the ground, these vibrations are transmitted through the
ground to different degrees and may thus be felt as shocks in neighboring buildings. For
especially sensitive areas, technical solutions are currently being investigated, which
minimize the dynamic loads that are transferred from the vehicle to the guideway and then
to the bearings in the supports and foundations (Schwindt, 2006).
TR08 vibration levels for both the concrete elevated and concrete at-grade (AG) guideways
are compared with those of the TGV, the Italian Pendolino, the Swedish X2000, and the
Acela at 240 km/h. The vibration levels for the TR08 traversing the at-grade guideway
structures are comparable to those from HSR trains measured in Italy (Pendolino) and
France (TGV), whereas the levels for the elevated structure are considerably lower for the
distances measured. Vibration levels measured at 15 m for the TR08 traversing the at-grade
guideway at 400 km/h are less than those previously measured at 15 m for the Acela
traveling 240 km/h. These comparisons, however, are representative of data collected at
various sites and are generally typical of local geological conditions. In general, groundborne vibration levels from trains on elevated structures tend to be lower than those from atgrade operations (FRA, 2002b). The curves for European HSR trains are taken from the FRA
high-speed ground transportation guidance manual (FRA, 1998), and for the Acela from
measurements conducted by HMMH (FRA, 2000).
7.6 Loading
In this part of research, maglev guideways and road and railroad bridges are compared
from loading and design aspects. The optimal design of all bridges, including road, railroads
and maglev elevated guideways is really vital. Majority of the existing maglev guideways
are elevated and completely built on the bridge. In fact, a maglev elevated guideway is one
kind of bridges. Therefore, it can be compared with any bridge, including railroad and road.
According to the AREMA regulations and the UIC leaflets, the live loading models for the
rail tracks, is a combination of the concentrated and distributed loads. However, the live
loading models for the maglev trains, in the absence of wheels and pursuant to uniformity
in the intensity of magnetic forces due to the magnets, are uniformly distributed on the
guideways. The lateral magnetic force in maglev is less than the lateral force in the rail
tracks. The low level of this force in maglev is due to the absence of the rails and wheels,
lower weight of the vehicle and the presence of lateral restoring and equilibration magnetic
force.
In general, vertical loadings (dead and live) in the spans of maglev guideways are much
lower than those of the railroad bridges. The intensity of the uniform distributed load in live
loading of the railroad bridges is almost four times that in maglev. One reason for this
difference is the lower weight of the maglev vehicle due to the absence of wheels, axles and
transmission parts plus the overall short length of the vehicle. The amount of the earthquake
lateral force on the maglev guideway is less than one third of its value for the road bridge.
Maglev
171
The loading of the guideway is almost equal to the loading of each one of the four girders of
the railroad bridge. In other words, taking into account the fact that the bridge consists of
four girders, comparison of the results indicates that the load on the railroad bridge deck is
four times greater than the load on the maglev guideway. This means that the guideway by
itself can play the role of each one of the girders of the railroad bridge (Yaghoubi & Ziari,
2011; Yaghoubi & Rezvani, 2011).
8. Conclusion
Rapid increase in traffic volume in transport systems plus the need for improving
passenger comfort have highlighted the subject of developing new transport systems. The
recent required increases in the traffic volume in transport systems, as well as a need for
the improvement of passengers' comfort, and required reductions in track life cycle costs,
have caused the subject of the development of a new transportation system. One of the
important systems which have attracted industries is maglev transport system. In this
regard, maglev transport system turns out to be a proper choice for transportation
industries around the world. Maglev systems have been recently developed in response to
the need for rapid transit systems. The maglev system comes off clearly better and
surpasses the HSR systems in almost most fields. These include the pollution, noise
emission, vibration level, environmental issues, land occupations, loading, speed,
acceleration and deceleration, braking, maintenance costs, passenger comfort, safety,
travel time, etc. With the maglev guideway it is also possible to reach to the minimal
radiuses for the horizontal and vertical curves. A maglev vehicle can as well travel at the
steeper gradients compared with the HSR systems. This considerably reduces the total
length of track for the maglev routes compared to the HSR systems. The possibility of
traveling with the higher grade angles also reduces the number of tunnels that are
required to travel through the mountainous areas. This can also shorten the total length
for the maglev route. Therefore, construction of the maglev routes in the hilly areas, in
addition to many other advantageous of these systems, can be considered as an attractive
choice for the transportation industries. The lower energy consumption of the maglev
vehicles in comparison with the HSR systems is also among major characteristics of the
magnetically levitated trains. This can be easily associated with the absence of the wheels
and the resulting situation of no physical contact between the maglev vehicle and its
guideway. Therefore, the energy loss due to the unwanted friction is out of the equations.
Furthermore, the vehicle weight is lower due to the absence of wheels, axles and engine.
On the other hand, reduction in the travel time considerably reduces the energy
consumption. The limited energy resources that are currently available to the nation have
highlighted the fact that every individual has to be the energy conscious. The government
had to take steps, and it started by setting the preventative rules and the tightening access
to the cheap energy resources. Clearly, the widespread application of the magnetically
levitated trains for the public transport, in short and long distances, can provide the
nation with huge saving in the energy consumption. This is not a fact that can be easily
ignored nor can it be bypassed.
Effective parameters in the design of guideways including dead and live loads, dynamic
amplification factor and deflection, and structural analysis and design criteria were
investigated. According to AREMA regulations and UIC leaflets, live loading models for
172
9. Acknowledgment
This chapter of book was performed and financially supported completely by Iran Maglev
Technology (IMT).
Maglev
173
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Part 2
Modelling for Railway Infrastructure
Design and Characterization
7
Power System Modelling for Urban Massive
Transportation Systems
Mario A. Ros and Gustavo Ramos
1. Introduction
Urban Massive Transportation Systems (UMTS), like metro, tramway, light train; requires
the supply of electric power with high standards of reliability. So, an important step in the
development of these transportation systems is the electric power supply system planning
and design.
Normally, the trains of a UMTS requires a DC power supply by means of rectifier AC/DC
substations, know as traction substations (TS); that are connected to the electric HV/MV
distribution system of a city. The DC system feeds catenaries of tramways or the third rail
of metros, for example. The DC voltage is selected according to the system taking into
account power demand and length of the railways lines. Typically, a 600 Vdc 750 Vdc is
used in tramways; while 1500 Vdc is used in a metro system. Some interurban-urban
systems use a 3000 Vdc supply to the trains.
Fig. 1 presents an electric scheme of a typical traction substation (TS) with its main
components: AC breakers at MV, MV/LV transformers, AC/DC rectifiers, DC breakers,
traction DC breakers. As, it is shown, a redundant supply system is placed at each traction
substation in order to improve reliability. In addition, some electric schemes allow the
power supply of the catenaries connected to a specific traction substation (A) since the
neighbour traction substation (B) by closing the traction sectioning between A and B and
opening the traction DC breakers. In this way, the reliability supply is improved and allows
flexibility for maintenance of TS.
So, an important aspect for the planning and design of this electric power supply is a good
estimation of power demand required by the traction system that will determine the
required number, size and capacity of AC/DC rectifier substations. On the other hand, the
design of the system requires studying impacts of the traction system on the performance of
the distribution system and vice versa. Power quality disturbances are present in the
operation of these systems that could affect the performance of the traction system.
This chapter presents useful tools for modelling, analysis and system design of Electric
Massive Railway Transportation Systems (EMRTS) and power supply from Distribution
Companies (DisCo) or Electric Power Utilities. Firstly, a section depicting the modelling
and simulation of the power demand is developed. Then, a section about the computation of
180
the placement and sizing of TS for urban railway systems is presented where the modelling
is based on the power demand model of the previous section. After that, two sections about
the power quality (PQ) impact of EMRTS on distribution systems and grounding design are
presented. Both subjects make use of the load demand model presented previously.
181
Fig. 2. Velocity, Traction Effort, and Power Consumption of an Urban Train Travel between
adjacent Passenger Stations (Hsiang & Chen, 2001)
During the first state (I), the vehicle moves with constant positive acceleration, so the speed
increases. When the vehicle reaches a determined speed lower than the constant speed, the
second operation state starts. In this state, the acceleration decreases, but the speed keeps
increasing. In the third state (III), the cruise speed is reached and the acceleration is zero. In
the fourth state (IV), the braking operation starts with negative acceleration until the
moment it decelerates with a constant rate and finally it stops at the destination station
(Vukan, 2007), (Chen et al., 1999), (Perrin & Vernard, 1991), (Hsiang & Chen, 2001).
2.1.1 Net force of a traction vehicle
The parametric construction of the traction and braking effort curves is based on the traction
theory already implemented in locomotives and high speed rails. Three factors limit the
traction effort versus velocity: the maximum traction effort Fmax conditioned by the number
of passengers that are in the wagon, the maximum velocity of the vehicle, and the maximum
power consumption. The maximum traction effort used by the acceleration, and then
transferred to the rail, is limited by the total weight of the axles given by:
mm TM naxis n waxle
(1)
182
where TM is the total vehicle mass, n is the number of motor drives, naxis the number of axles
in the vehicle, and waxle the weight per axle (Buhrkall, 2006). The total vehicle mass is:
TM wv np wpas MDYN
(2)
where wv corresponds to the weight per wagon without passengers, np the number of
passengers per wagon, wpas the average weight per passenger, and MDYN the dynamic mass
of the railway, which represents the stored energy in the spinning parts of the vehicle,
typically of 5-10% (Buhrkall, 2006). Then, the maximum traction effort is calculated as:
Fmax mm g
(3)
Where corresponds to the friction coefficient between the wheels and the rail, which is
about 15% for the ERMTS, and gravity g equals to 9.8 m/s2 (Buhrkall, 2006). The force
needed to move a traction vehicle (TM times the acceleration (a)) is:
F TM a TM
dv
TE( v ) MR( v ) Be ( v )
dt
(4)
Where TE(v) is the traction effort in an EMRTS that provides the necessary propulsion to
exceed inertia and accelerate the vehicle, MR(v) is the movement resistance as an opposite
force to the vehicle movement, Be(v) is the braking effort used to decelerate the vehicle and
stop it permanently (Vukan, 2007).
The traction and braking effort act directly in the vehicle wheels edges. The movement
resistance is given by:
MR( v ) 10 3 2.5 10 3 k v v
TM g
(5)
Where k0.33 for passengers vehicles, v15km/h is the wind velocity variation, TM is the
total mass of the vehicle, and g the gravity. Table 1 presents the action forces in an EMRTS
that makes its path between two passengers stations. As a result, there are four regimens of
operation: stopping, acceleration, constant velocity, and deceleration. This is how the
difference between the traction effort, the movement resistance, and the braking effort,
which are not velocity variants, represent the net force of the vehicle (Jong & Chang, 2005b).
Operative Regimen
Stopping
Acceleration
Constant Velocity
Deceleration
Net Force
TE(v) MR(v) Be(v)=0
TE(v) MR(v) Be(v)>0
TE(v) MR(v) Be(v)=0
TE(v) MR(v) Be(v)<0
Velocity
v=0
0 < v < vmax
v>0
0 < v < vmax
Table 1. Net Force and Velocity as function of the Operative Regimen (Jong & Chang, 2005b)
2.1.2 Computation of dynamic variables
The incremental acceleration (ai) is obtained from the net force and the total mass of the
vehicle (Jong & Chang, 2005b) computed for each instant t, as:
ai t
F t
TM t
183
(6)
The velocity is assumed an independent variable, which determines the path time of the
traction vehicle, with steps fixed by velocity and acceleration (Jong & Chang, 2005b). So, the
time steps and the incremental travelled distance are given by:
ti 1 ti
vi 1 vi
ai
si 1 si vi ti 1 ti
(7)
(8)
(9)
For the last operative state where the braking acts, the consumption is given by:
P t Be v v B
(10)
which describes the braking effort multiplied by the velocity in the range of 0vvmax and a
multiplicative factor B which describes the efficiency of the regenerative braking which it is
considered of 30% for this type of systems (Perrin & Vernard, 1991), (Jong & Chang, 2005a),
(Hill, 2006).
2.2 Simulation model
The model presented at section 2.1 allows the computation of the power consumption and
travel time characteristics (t, x) for each train i in the railway line. Naturally, a railway line
simulation must include a number n of passengers stations and k trains travel in the line (go
and return).
The integration of these characteristics requires modelling the mobility of passengers
associated at each train. It can be simulated in a probabilistic way, computing the number
of passengers coming up and leaving the train (i) in each passengers station (j) and the
stopping time of the train in each station. This first part, stated here as Module 1, uses the
following parameters: the passengers up (rup) and down (rdown) rates, and up (tup) and down
(tup) times per passenger.
The number of passengers in the first station and the number of passengers waiting in each
station (paxwait) are modelled as random variables of uniform distribution. As, the railway
line simulation includes a number n of passengers stations; Module 1 computes for each
train i the number of passengers that the train transport between station j and j+1 as:
184
(11)
The number of passengers is constrained to be less or equal than the maximum capacity of
passengers at the train. In addition, this module gives the stopping time for each train at
each passengers station (tstop(i,j)) based on passengers up and down times, as:
tstop i , j tdown 1 rdown pax(i , j 1) tup pax wait ( j ) rup
(12)
The second part of the model, called Module 2, simulates the overall travel of train i. This
means, the simulation gives the power consumption of train i for each instant of time t for a
complete travel (go and return). At the same time, the placement (x(t)) of the train is get for
each t. If the line railway has a length L, then the total travel of one train is 2L, and x will be
between 0 and L in one sense and between L and 0 in the another sense.
So, Module 2 computes the trains time of travel between passengers stations and the
instantaneous power demand for one train based on equations (1) to (10) and the number of
passengers and stopping time obtained from (11) and (12), respectively; as Fig. 3 shows. As,
it is shown, the simulation considers the initial dispatch time and computes the initial value
of passengers using the second term of equation (11).
Initial data:
Placement of passengers stations x(j)
Train characteristics (number of wagons, axles
and motors; weight of wagons, axles and motors),
efficiency of the regenerative braking.
j = j +1
Last
Passengers
station?
no
yes
End
185
On the other hand, Module 2 considers the maximum velocity, the braking and traction
effort curves as input variables. These curves are parameterized by means of (1), (2), and (3)
and are given by manufacturers of traction equipment. Each curve is used to establish the
net force at each operative regime, I to IV in Fig. 2. Fig. 4. shows an example of the
simulation of placement and power consumption for a train in a metro line using a power
demand simulator reported at (Garcia et al., 2009).
Finally, the simulation of Module 2 is run for the total number of k vehicles in the railway
line, taking into account the dispatch time of each one. Then, the power consumption at each
TS is computed as Fig. 5. shows. Each TS supplies the power to trains (going or returning)
placed for its specific portion of the railway line (the DC section connected to the TS).
14000
3000
2500
12000
2000
Position(m)
10000
8000
6000
4000
1500
1000
500
0
-500
2000
-1000
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
-1500
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
Time(s)
Time(s)
186
P laza_ B o livar
A v _ C arre ra_ 22
NQS
C alle _ 19
Z o n a _ In d u stria l
Tran v_ 4 9A
C an al_ Fu ch a
A v_ 6 8
P laza_ A m e ricas
A v_ V illavice n cio
Tim iza
Kennedy
P o rtal_ A m e ricas
This section illustrates the application of the power consumption mathematical and
simulation model in a possible metro line for the city of Bogota of 13.2 km and 13
passenger stations. Fig. 6 shows one section of the possible line 1 to be developed in
Bogot. Fig. 7. presents the results of a simulation of the Metro Line of Fig. 6 using the
previous algorithms.
(kW)
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
-1000
-2000
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
(seg)
6000
7000
8000
9000
187
2.
3.
One transformer-rectifier unit with possibility of power supply from the adjacent TS.
Each TS acts as a support of its adjacent TS. This implies that the substations must be
able to supply at least 1.5 times the length of the normal DC section length (3L/2).
Two transformer-rectifier units in each traction substation. This configuration
means the redundancy in the main equipment of the TS. In case of a fault in one
transformer and/or rectifier, the parallel unit must supply the total power demand
of the TS. This scheme assumes that there is not possibility of support of adjacent
substations. The wide dotted line if Fig. 8 remarks the parallel unit of transformerrectifier unit.
Two transformer-rectifier units in each TS and support of adjacent DC section. This
is the combination of configurations 1 and 2. This means that there is redundancy in
each traction substation and there is also possibility of support of adjacent DC section
feeder.
188
(13)
Where T is the number of years of the project, and r is the discount rate of the project. The
investment cost depends on the length of the DC network, and is given by:
m
(14)
i 1
Where, Lcat and Ccat are the total length and the unitary cost of the catenaries or rail (DC
section, in general). NMod is the number of modules in one traction substation (1 or 2). CMod is
the cost associated to one module; Cplace is the cost of the terrain where the substation is built;
m is the number of substations.
The annual operation cost (Cop(j)) is computed as the sum of annual AC and DC losses in the
year j multiplied by the energy cost. Transformer losses are defined as the sum of the
instantaneous iron losses (ACiron-loss) and copper losses (ACcopper-loss) during the year. Then, the
total losses cost for m substations is:
189
(15)
i 1
AC loss i , j
To
To
(16)
To is the operation time of the urban rail during the year. The iron losses in the
transformer are constant (Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers [IEEE], 2007) and
computed as it is established in (IEEE, 1992). The copper losses are directly proportional
to the square of the utilization factor (UF), and the constant of proportionality is the nominal
copper losses of the transformer (Pnom_Cu) (IEEE, 2007). The UF is defined as the ratio of
instantaneous demanded power (Pdem(i,j,t)) and the transformer rating (Pnom).
On the other hand, the DC losses are power losses in the rectifiers (AC/DC converters):
P (i , j , t )
ACcooper loss (i , j , t ) Pnom _ Cu i (UF( j , t ))2 Pnom _ Cu i dem
P i
nom
DC loss i , j
To
(17)
To
(18)
The eff(i,j,t) is the DC efficiency of the rectifier of the TS i and depends on the instantaneous
power demanded at year j hour t. It varies from 95.4% to 95.7% (Hill, 2006).
The third term of the objective function of the minimization problem is the cost of energy
not supplied (CENS), computed as function of the time of no-supply in hours/year (TNS), the
unitary cost of fault in USD$/kWh (Cfault) and the average power not supplied by TS (Pav):
C ENS TNS Pav C fault
(19)
The voltage drop between a supply point and a utilization point must not be more than 15%
in normal operation and as maximum 30% in special cases (Arriagada & Rudnick, 1994).
These specials cases may be the outage of a substation or the last DC section in the route.
Table 2 presents the voltage margins according to the different used DC system voltages.
DC system voltage (V)
600
750
1500
3000
400
500
1000
2000
600
750
1500
3000
720
900
1800
3600
770*
950**
1950
3900
190
A voltage drop of 30% between the TS and the last vehicle can be tolerated in a suburban
system, where the vehicles are constantly accelerating, but a voltage drop over the principal
line of a metro during any time interval might exceed all the established limits. Therefore,
the maximum voltage drop allowed is limited to 15% on nominal voltages under normal
conditions. A voltage drop in the farthest point of a section supplied by TS is defined as:
1
VT VS L2 Zn I Zx ( n n ') I (Zn I LCat( i ) Z L2 )
4
Zx ( Ru RT )cos ( Xu XT )sin
(20)
(21)
Where Vs is the DC voltage at the TS (p.u), VT is the minimum DC voltage in the DC section
for correct vehicle operation (p.u.); I is the current demanded by a vehicle (p.u.); Ru and Xu
are the equivalent resistance and reactance, respectively (p.u.); RT and XT are the transformer
resistance and reactance, respectively (p.u.); is the angle of power factor (zero for DC
systems); R and X are the DC section resistance and reactance, including the return way, in
p.u./mi; L2 is the distance between the TS and the nearest vehicle at the right; n and n are
the number of vehicles at the right and the left, respectively, of the TS.
Voltage drop in the farthest point is determined by the maximum length of the sector
supplied. In normal conditions, this value is the length L (see Fig. 8). However, when a
contingency occurs, the sector length must be modified to almost twice the original length.
Then, for normal conditions, the voltage must satisfy:
VT VS (i ) Z(i , L / 2) ITS ( i )
(22)
Where ITS is the current delivered by the TS depending on the number of vehicles in sector i
supplied in a determined time by the substation. Under a contingency of the TS, the voltage
must satisfy the constraint for the sector i-1 and sector i+1 (adjacent sectors):
VT (i 1) VS (i 1) Z(i 1, 3L / 2) ITS (i 1)
(23)
The minimum capacity of transformers and rectifiers is calculated from the maximum
demanded current in each TS. The transformers and rectifiers size must be chosen as the
nearest superior value to the demanded power, depending on the commercial capacities. As
previously, normal conditions and post-contingency operation must be considered. In
normal operation with 2 transformers, the power capacity of transformers must satisfy:
CapT ( MW )(i ) ITS (i , L ) VDC PLoss (L )
(24)
Meanwhile, when the traction substation i is unavailable, the capacity of active power of the
2 transformers in the i-1 and i+1 sector must satisfy:
CapT ( MW )(i 1) ITS (i 1, 3L / 2) VDC PLoss (3L / 2)
(25)
The capacity in MVA of the transformer is computed dividing the capacity in MW by the
power factor (p.f.). As shown in (24) and (25), the power loss (Ploss) in the DC section feeder
for the maximum demand must be determined for each section. The total power loss in DC
section associated to the TS for a round trip is:
191
PLOSS Ploss (t ) I j (t )2 L j (t ) I j (t )2 L j (t )
j 1
t 0
t 0
j 1
(26)
Ij is the current in each DC section that is defined as the catenaries/rail between two vehicles or
between a vehicle and the TS (in the case of the nearest vehicle to the feeding point of the TS).
The total losses at the DC section takes into account all vehicles placed at left and right of the TS.
is the resistivity of the DC section [/km or /mi]; To is the total annual operation time.
3.4 Application to the study case
The analysis was developed for the metro line showed in Fig. 6 corresponding to the study
case of section 2.3. The study was developed as function of the number of substations and
the three possible configurations explained in section 3.1.
The unitary cost of fault was assumed 1074 US$/kWh, from reliability analysis. Simulations
were done for three levels of load: high (the maximum number of vehicles in service),
medium (half of the total vehicles in service), and low (with no vehicles in service). The
simulator allows the calculation of power losses in N-0 state, and the demand of each
substation for N-0 and N-1 contingencies state.
Simple contingencies (N-1) at the maximum load were made in order to sizing the TS when
configurations 1 and 3 are used, to give support of adjacent TS. While, normal state
operation was used for sizing TS in configuration 2.
Table 3 presents the total cost computed as function of the number of TS and configuration
of connection. Additionally, the investment cost (C_inv) and the net present value of the
operation cost (NPV_Oper) is shown. The fault cost was of 155.000 USD$/year.
The investment cost (without the cost of catenaries/rail that is common for all alternatives),
noted C_inv, includes the switchgear in SF6, rectifiers, transformers, having into account the
number of each equipment depending on the configuration (see Fig. 8). The NPV_Oper
includes the operation cost for a useful life of the project of 20 years.
In the second column, in brackets, the rating commercial capacity of each substation is
shown, based on the results of simulations and the algorithm for finding catenaries/rail
losses. The capacities of each substation for configurations 1 and 3 are the same, due to the
high electrical similitude between both schemes.
#TSs
3
Configuration
(rating/TS)
1 (5MW)
2 (4 MW)
3 (5MW)
1 (5 MW)
2 (3.75MW)
3 (5 MW)
1 (3.75MW)
2 (3.75MW)
3 (3.75MW)
Maximum length of
catenary/rail (km)
8.8
4.4
8.8
6.6
3.3
6.6
5.28
2.64
5.28
C_inv
6.11
9.75
11.9
6.73
12.3
13.0
7.97
14.3
15.4
Millions of dollars
NPV_Oper
Total Cost
0.81
7.95
1.63
12.4
1.62
14.5
0.90
8.65
1.79
15.1
1.79
15.8
0.98
9.97
1.97
17.3
1.96
18.3
192
The third column shows the maximum length of the DC section that each TS can supply. TS
in configurations 1 and 3 must have a capacity to supply even twice the total length of the
line divided by the number of considered substations. Instead, TS in configuration 2 supply
the maximum length of catenaries/rail, just the normal operation length because this
configuration is not able of supporting of adjacent substation in case of fault.
The lowest total cost at Table 3 is presented in the case of three 5 MW TS because, in the
study case of section 2.3, the investment cost weights more in the final cost than the
operation cost. That is, looking just the configuration 1, it is evident that even though the
operation costs do not grow up linearly as more TS are considered, the difference between
investment costs is higher than operation costs, so the optimal solution is the location of 3 TS
of 5 MW, under the configuration 1.
Fig. 9 shows the existing relationships between the different PQ phenomena and the
railways electrical system components. As it is shown, the main electrical components in
the railway system are: the train-vehicle as an electric load that involves a great use of
power electronics, rectifier substations, the electric HV/MV substation, and the distribution
network system (White, 2008).
On the other hand, the main PQ phenomena involved in the interaction between the
railways electrical systems and the power distribution system are: electromagnetic
interference (EMI/RFI) at high frequency (HF); harmonics, flicker, and voltage regulation at
low frequency (LF) (Sutherland et al., 2006). Also, PQ phenomena include sags at
instantaneous regime, unbalance of the three-phase power system, and transients
phenomena (Lamedica et al., 2004).
Fig. 9 (Garcia & Rios, 2010) presents also where the cause of the phenomena is, what are
the affected or perturbed systems, and where a solution of the problem can be
implemented. For example, the electromagnetic transients occur in microseconds and they
are caused by capacitor switching or lightning. Hence, they can be generated in the
distribution network, MV side of the rectifier substation or in the train (represented by X
in Fig. 9). The main problems are related to the rectifier substation or the train
(represented by circle in Fig. 10) where the electronic sensitive equipment are susceptible
to misuse or damage due to the transient overvoltage. An effective overvoltage transient
protection could be located at the rectifier substation and, finally, at the train (represented
by triangle Fig. 9).
193
Generally, deterministic models have been adopted for network harmonic analysis;
however, these models can fail for modelling the load variation in systems such as the
railways electrical system (Chang et al., 2009). So, a probabilistic analysis to characterize
the harmonic current loads properly must be used in order to obtain an accurate model.
An EMRTS is characterized by fluctuating loads due to the different operation states of the
trains in the traction system (See Fig. 7 b). Thus, the harmonics injection from the rectifier
substations to the MV network causes that the current harmonic spectrum at the distribution
systems connection point (PCC) varies over time. So, each traction substation can be
represented as a harmonic current source that provides a probabilistic spectral content at the
PCC (Rios et al., 2009).
194
Then, it is necessary to perform the vector sum of several harmonic sources (i.e. traction
substations) at the distribution systems connection point to determine the total harmonic
distortion. There are two methods to evaluate the effect of different non-linear loads: the
analytical method and Monte Carlo simulation method. The complex implementation of
analytical methods for large power systems studies involves little practical application in
real systems. By contrast, Monte Carlo simulation has proved to be a practical technique
(Casteren & Groeman, 2009) based on the low correlation between different harmonic loads
(independence of the sources). Fig. 10 presents the methodology useful for probabilistic
harmonic distortion analysis of railways electrical systems with different harmonic sources.
The methodology for probabilistic analysis of harmonic starts from values obtained from
deterministic simulations. Once the different conditions of loads are defined in the
behaviour of the traction system, it is possible to use probability distribution plots to
evaluate the harmonic level in the system during the travel time. So, the next step is to
determine the probability density function to fit the harmonic components of each harmonic
source and its phase angle.
195
Then, a process called "Vector Sum - Phasor" is run through Monte Carlo simulations.
Finally, the probabilistic characterization is obtained; where the probability distribution
function of current THD, the probability distribution function of rms current and the
probability distribution of each harmonic component are obtained.
Table 10.3 of Std. IEEE - 519 (IEEE, 1993) contains the current distortion limits in the voltage
range of 120 V to 69 kV, which applies for typical railways electrical systems connected to
distribution systems at MV. So, based on this standard, a comparison between the current
distortion levels at 95% and 50% of probability and the given limits must be realized to
assess if the current distortion must be reduced or not. If a current THD distortion must be
reduced, it could be used several filters methods. The next section presents the application
of active power filtering to reduce THD distortion.
4.2.2 Active power filter allocation methodology
196
the current THD distortion. Although the reduction is achieved with one filter, the amount
of reduction is low because the two rectifier substations without active power filter present
high variability and distortion. It is also observed that when an additional filter is used the
amount of reduction in the THD is higher. Obviously, if three APF are used (one at each
TS), the higher THD reduction is obtained.
Fig. 11. Methodology for Allocation of Active Power Filters in Urban Railway Systems
The final decision about what configuration selects depends on the short circuit level of the
system; for example, if the short circuit level is lower than 50 MVA a placement of one APF
at each TS is required to satisfy Std. IEEE-519. By contrast, if the short circuit level is
between 50 and 100 MVA, the best option is to place APF at TS1 and TS2.
Case
Without filter
APF in TS1
APF in TS2
APF in TS3
APF in TS1 and TS2
APF in TS1 and TS3
APF in TS2 and TS3
APF in all TS
197
HRGM
25 Vdc
High (200-700 )
Low (1-2 A)
LRGM
1 Vdc
Low (< 1 )
High (70-1500 A)
Solid-grounded system: This system keeps under control touch voltage but it permits
the corrosion of the elements grounded to the earth.
Ungrounded system (Floating): This system keeps under control stray currents but it
permits high touch and step voltages.
198
Table 6 compares the main characteristics of the three options of railways grounding
system.
Grounding method
Solid-grounded system
Ungrounded system (Floating)
Diode-grounded system
Stray current
level
High
Low
Middle-High
Fig. 12 illustrates a grounded scheme for a railway line, in which for general purposes there
are k trains, m substations and a total rail length l.
I Ri ,i 1 ( x ) c(2 xi 1) e x c(2 xi ) e x
(27)
Ui ( x ) R0 (c(2 xi 1) e x c(2 xi ) e x )
(28)
For 0 x l, where n is equal to the number of trains running (k) plus the number of TS that
are in operation (m), n = k + m. Ui(x) is the rail to ground potential [V], and IRi,i+1(x) is the
stray current in the rail conductor [A].
The constant values c(2xi-1) and c(2xi) can be determined from the solution of a linear system of
2x(n-1) equations with 2x(n-1) unknowns obtained from the boundary conditions of each
point Pi applying Kirchhoff's laws and assuming that the magnitudes of the currents
199
delivered or absorbed by the trains and the substations are known as well as the location of
each of the trains at the moment that these currents are delivered. Different scenarios can
arise during the operation, which can be described as: railway starting point (P1); railway
ending point (Pn); point where a train is passing (P2, P3, P4, , Pn-1); and point where a
traction substation is located, for example (Pi).
5.2 DC grounding algorithm model in time
The model uses information on the train location and current consumption or delivered by
the traction substations, for all time t. The power demand simulator (section 2) gives the
power consumed and delivered by each train and TS, as well as the location of each train
along the rail for each time instant. Fig. 13 shows the flowchart of the algorithm.
The input data consist of arrays of pairs with the current supplied or absorbed by each
TS or train and the respective train locations. This information is supplied by the model
presented in section 2.
As the trains are in constant motion the input for each instant of time is ordered from
minor to major, in accordance to their location to the starting point of the track, in order
to determine the track to be evaluated.
After defining the tracks and points (Pi) on the total rail length, values are determined
for each constant c(2xi-1) and c(2xi) respectively.
200
Finally, using the constants obtained in the previous step for the instant of time the
stray current and the voltage rail to ground are evaluated and the information obtained
is saved. This process is repeated from the second step until all points in time.
5.3 Example
Let us consider a simplified study case similar to the system of section 2.3 (Fig. 6) with three
TS located at 0, 2000 and 4000 meters and four trains moving along the 4 kilometers of rail.
Constant system parameters are: R=0.04/km, G=0.1S/km, Rg=0.01/km and R01=R8=R0.
a) Currents at Trains
201
6. Conclusion
This chapter has presented useful tools for power systems modelling, analysis and system
design of Electric Massive Railway Transportation Systems (EMRTS) and power supply
from Distribution Companies (DisCo) or Electric Power Utilities. Firstly, a section depicted
to present the modelling and simulation of the power demand was developed. Then, a
section about the computation of the placement and sizing of traction substations for urban
railway systems was presented where the modelling is based on the power demand model
of the previously mentioned.
After that, two sections about the power quality impact of EMRTS on distribution systems
and grounding design are presented. Both subjects make use of the load demand model
presented at section 2.
These tools allow the optimization of the design scheme of railway electrification for UMTS,
taking into account an adequate sizing and number of traction substations, and the number
and location of harmonic filters to improve the power quality of the system.
7. Acknowledgment
The authors want to thanks to Ana Mara Ospina, Camilo Andrs Ordoez, and Elkn
Cantor for the support given in the preparation of the material for this Chapter.
8. References
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Casteren, J.V.; Groeman, F. (2006). Harmonic analysis of rail transportation systems with
probabilistic techniques, 9th International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied
to Power Systems, ISBN 978-91-7178-585-5, Stockholm, Sweden, June 11-15, 2006.
Chang, G.W.; Hung-Lu, W.; Gen-Sheng, C.; Shou-Yung, C. (2009). Passive harmonic filter
planning in a power system with considering probabilistic constraints, IEEE
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Chen, C.S.; Chuang, H.J.; & Chen, J.L. (1999). Analysis of dynamic load behavior for
electrified mass rapid transit systems, 34th IEEE Industry Applications Conference,
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systems for distribution utilities, 44th International Universities Power Engineering
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0
8
Optimized Model Updating of a Railway Bridge for
Increased Accuracy in Moving Load Simulations
Johan Wiberg, Raid Karoumi and Costin Pacoste
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Sweden
1. Introduction
The moving load problem has been studied intensively since the rst research by Willis in
1849 (Willis, 1850). Todays railway bridges are analyzed in more detail for moving loads
due to increased speeds, axle loads and more slender bridge designs. Such analyzes are very
time consuming as it involves many simulations using different train congurations passing
at different speeds. Thus, simplied bridge and train models are chosen for time efcient
simulations. However, these FE models are often called into question when they are in conict
with in-situ bridge measurements. Model updating has therefore been a rapidly developing
technology and has gained a lot of interest in recent years. It is the popular name for using
measured structural data to correct the errors in FE models. Clearly, the approach of numerical
predictions to the behavior of a physical system is limited by the assumptions used in the
development of the mathematical model (Friswell & Mottershead, 1995). Model updating, at
its most ambitious, is about correcting invalid assumptions by processing test results.
Mottershead & Friswell (1993) provided a state of the art and addressed the problem of
updating a numerical model by using data acquired from a physical vibration test (Friswell
& Mottershead, 1995). Optimization has been used by many others since then, improving
FE model predictions based on real measurements. This chapter highlights the importance
and the potential of such optimization procedures for increased accuracy in moving load
simulations. A large-scale simplied railway bridge FE model is used and the updating
process is based on previously identied updating parameters in Wiberg et al. (2009). Natural
frequency, static strain, static deection and acceleration residuals are used, separately and
combined, to optimize the values of modulus of elasticity, mass density and modal damping
ratio. The updated FE model is nally used to identify and analyze the most critical moving
load conguration in CEN (2002) concerning bending moment, vertical bridge deck deection
and acceleration.
The optimization algorithm was easily implemented for FE model updating and was shown to
operate efciently in a benchmark test and for the specic bridge. The optimization algorithm
converges against reasonable values of the updating parameters. A previously questioned
high-valued equivalent modulus of elasticity, found for a manually tuned FE model in Wiberg
(2009), was proven to be reliable. Further, the difference in load effect between an initial
manually tuned FE model and the optimized FE model is found most signicant for vertical
deection. However, more measured dynamic characteristics (natural frequencies, mode
204
shapes and modal damping ratios), together with complementing updating parameters and
a more detailed FE model are considered necessary for dynamic load effect predictions with
highest accuracy.
Finally, it should be given attention that the adopted methodology can not only be used
for model updating based on measurements, but also introduced in the early design phase.
The reasonable range of a typical modeling factor or parameter is then based on the drilled
engineers qualied guess and the risk of for example a resonance problem can be investigated
by, e.g. letting the maximum allowed code limit for vertical bridge deck acceleration be
measured response. Performing the optimization will then result in a model conguration,
needed to fulll the requirements in the code.
2. FE model optimization
2.1 General
(1)
with no restriction placed on the range of p, the Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm as described
in Lagarias et al. (1998) can be used for optimization. The algorithm is capable of escaping
local minima in some cases and can even handle discontinuities (Coleman & Zhang, 2009).
Unlike gradient based optimization routines, facing ill-conditioning for the Jacobian and
2053
Hessian matrices, the Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm is less prone to numerical difculties
at iteration steps. Also for noisy measurements the Nelder-Mead simplex algorithm has
been proven effective, see e.g. the updating results of a simple beam in Jonsson & Johnson
(2007) or the more extensive study of Schlune et al. (2009) to improve the FE model of the
new Svinesund Bridge between Sweden and Norway. Further, the optimization algorithm is
general, problem independent and can be implemented easily for FE model updating.
2.2 The objective function
The objective function is the crucial heart of FE model updating. It represents the magnitude
of the error of the response vector, z, dened as the difference between the observed responses
and the expected responses E {z} (Friswell & Mottershead, 1995):
(2)
= E (z E {z}) T (z E {z})
Typically, the response residual vector is weighted to reect the condence in different
measurements:
T
z
(3)
= zm z j W z zm z j
where zm is the measured response vector, z j is the FE response vector at iteration j and
the response weighting matrix, W z , is a diagonal matrix with corresponding reciprocals as
diagonal elements depending on the type of objective function. Notations are also to be found
in Appendix 5.1.
The selection of the objective function has a profound impact on the problem (Jaishi &
Ren, 2005). A classical least squares approach fails to acknowledge that the observations
are not recorded with equal condence (Friswell & Mottershead, 1995). In reality, different
error sources will also reduce the ability of the FE model to reproduce the experimental
measurements. This can be systematic errors, experimental noise and modeling limitations. In
a weighted least squares approach each squared measurement residual is therefore multiplied
by a weight, wi , and the sum of weighted squares of the residuals is calculated. When the
weights are given by the inverse observation variances,
1
1
1
1
(4)
,
,..., 2,...,
W = diag
1 2 2 2
i
N 2
z
Nz
i =1
(zmi zi )2
zi
Nz
| zmi zi |
zi
i =1
(5)
This is the objective function used by Jonsson & Johnson (2007) and Schlune et al. (2009).
To keep the least squares form of the objective function, the square root is omitted and the
objective function reformulated as:
z
Nz
i =1
(zmi zi )2
zi
T
= zm z p j
W z zm z p j
(6)
206
which corresponds to Eq. 3 with possibility to take the signicance of different measurements
into account and with dimensionless terms as a result. The normalized updating parameter
vector is dened as
pn,j
p1,j p2,j
pj =
(7)
,
,...,
p1,0 p2,0
pn,0
2.3 Optimization procedure
FE model updating becomes very efcient, neat and easy to implement by coupling the FE
analysis software in question to a mathematical analysis software such as the Matlab package.
This also most conveniently facilitate the use of the Matlab incorporated optimization toolbox
and the updating process is therefore fully controlled from within Matlab. In order to use a
typical optimization solver, a function handle of the objective function together with an initial
normalized updating parameter vector are sent to the optimization subroutine. The updated
FE model code is then automatically generated by the optimization algorithm as it iterates.
The Matlab syntax for a general and problem independent optimization procedure is then:
% Response function as function handle @:
z=@(p)FEA(p);
% Objective function as function handle @:
obj=@(p)obj_func(zm,z,sigma);
% Initial normalized updating parameter vector:
p0=[1 1];
% Nelder-Mead simplex optimization based on functions Z and OBJ:
[p,objval,exitflag,output]=fminsearch(obj,p0,options);
In this case FEA(p) includes the appropriate code for initiation of the nite element analysis
and calculation of the response vector as a function of the updating parameter vector p from
the optimization solver fminsearch in the optimization toolbox of Matlab. In this case the
Solvia FE system software was adopted.
The optimization algorithm starts at the point p0 and attempts to nd a local minimum p of
the function described in obj, with measured response zm, standard deviations in responses
sigma and optimization options specied in options. The algorithm returns in objval
the value of the objective function obj at the solution p, in exitflag the exit condition of
fminsearch and in output the user specied information about the optimization are found.
3. Benchmark test
A benchmark test was performed to verify the updating procedure implemented in Matlab.
The physical problem consisted of a 2D dynamic analysis of a moving vehicle across a
ballasted railway bridge with vehicle-bridge interaction due to contact denitions, see Fig. 1.
The I-beam steel bridge had two spans, assumed to be linearly elastic, and the vehicle speed
was 30 m/s. The bridge surface and the neighboring rigid surface portions are assumed
to initially form a horizontal straight line. Each span was modeled to consist of 20 beam
elements and a mass-spring-damper system was used to model the vehicle. The mass density
2075
c
m1
Span 1
Span 2
Using the modulus of elasticity and mass density as updating parameters, with initial
values of 175 GPa and 20000 kg/m3 , i.e. corresponding to initial deections of 2.658 mm and
2.607 mm, the fminsearch solver in Matlab converged towards 210 GPa and 16000 kg/m3
at the deections 2.152 mm and 2.165 mm in 30 iterations and 62 objective function counts.
Fig. 2 illustrates the iteration sequence, starting at the normalized input parameter coordinates
20000
210 16000
( 175
175 , 20000 ) and ending at ( 175 , 20000 ). Interestingly, the algorithm rst seemed to localize a
local minimum but proceeded to the global minimum.
4. Case study
The New rsta Bridge in Stockholm, Sweden, was adopted for FE model updating (see Fig. 3).
Previous research pointed out some of the difculties in studying bridge dynamics resulting
from moving trafc (Wiberg et al., 2009). Not only does the dynamic amplication depends
on the considered load effect, but different modeling parameters, individually or jointly,
inuence the dynamic load effect or dynamic property in question. The use of statistically
identied updating parameters as a step in more effective model optimization is highlighted
in previous study by the author and typical results from a statistical parameter study on
this specic bridge are exemplied in Fig. 4 and found in Wiberg et al. (2009) where the
factorial experimentation technique was used. The type of information encountered in Fig. 4
is considered extremely important and valuable. Thus, the statistical method of factorial
experimentation, in contrast to ordinary parameter sensitivity analyzes where parameters
are varied one at a time, captures the synergy effects. Consequently, a modeling parameter
can be signicant even though it individually is found insignicant and an optimal amount
of updating parameters to include in the optimization can therefore be identied. This
leads to shorter solution times as the optimization algorithm itself is iterative and becomes
208
0.95
0.9
0.85
0.8
0.75
1.05
1.1
1.15
1.2
1.25
Fig. 2. Sequence of updating parameter points in the normalized updating parameter space.
The contours represent the magnitude of the response objective function.
very time-consuming for large dynamic simulations with inappropriately many updating
parameters causing unnecessarily many iterations.
A large-scale simplied bridge FE model in the Solvia FE system was veried as reliable for
global analysis and manually tuned concerning an equivalent modulus of elasticity and mass
density by using operational modal analysis and static load tests (Wiberg, 2006; 2007; 2009;
Wiberg & Karoumi, 2009). This 3D modied Bernoulli-Euler beam model was therefore used
as a basis for the present study.
4.1 The bridge
The eleven span New rsta Bridge of approximately 815 m has main spans of 78 m. Elevation
and plan view with the monitoring sections is presented in Fig. 5. The cross section of the
bridge is complex with a parabolic height variation. To make the slender design possible,
the sections were extensively reinforced and prestressed. To use a simplied inclusion of
tendons in the model, they were concentrated to the center of gravity along the bridge and not
distributed within the cross section. Further, the UIC 60 rails of the double track bridge were
modeled with rectangular beam elements, giving cross sectional properties corresponding to
the actual rail cross section. The element length was at most 0.5 m (both for bridge and rail
elements) and each rail node was connected to the corresponding bridge node with a rigid
link. The FE model of the bridge consisted of linear, elastic and isotropic materials. Support
conditions were assumed according to bridge design documents, but also veried as reliable
in previous work (Wiberg, 2009). Fig. 6 represents the boundary conditions, where the legend
F indicates that the bridge deck and pier are xed in translation movement. The main girder
2097
In this study the FE model was updated using tests with Swedish Rc6 locomotives. The
updated model was then used to study the effect of passing high speed trains (HSLM) as
specied in design codes.
4.2.2 The Rc6 locomotive
The updating process considered a eld test with two Swedish Rc6 locomotives positioned
at different locations in a static load test according to Wiberg (2009) and, in a dynamic load
test, one locomotive crossing the bridge at different speeds. The locomotive is visualized
in Fig. 7(a). Each of the four axles was represented as a point load of 19.5 tons and a
210
0.1
0.09
0.08
BC
|Estimated effect|
0.07
0.06
B
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0.5
1.5
2.5
NL
P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8
P9
SL
P10
( )
()
()
()
()
()
()
()
()
()
()
()
()
()
()
( )
()
()
NL
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
( )
()
P1
P2
P3
P4
P5
P6
P7
P9
P8
432
P10
SL
CBA
78 m
Fig. 5. Elevation and plan view of the New rsta Bridge. Between the northern and southern
abutment, NL and SL, respectively, the 10 piers are designated P1 to P10. Strain and
acceleration sensor sections are marked A, B and C. Section 1, 2, 3 and 4 were used for
vertical deection measurements.
Pier NL P1
Span
1
P2
P3
P4
P5
2119
P6
P7
9 x 78
48.15
P8
P9
10
P10
11
SL
65
The high speed load models, intended for railway bridge simulations above 200 km/h, were
adopted here to subject the optimized FE model for more extreme dynamics than the current
maximum speed limit of 140 km/h across the bridge. Fig. 7(b) is used in Eurocode to represent
the HSLM-A congurations (CEN, 2002). Appendix 5.1 species the varying number of
intermediate coaches, coach lengths, bogie axle spacings and point forces between the 10
different HSLM-A congurations.
4.3 Model optimization
In dynamic modeling, the dynamic characteristics of the bridge are of main concern,
i.e. natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios, why those should be focused on in
detail. For that purpose, the objective function of Zrate & Caicedo (2008) would be optimal:
f mi f i p j
n
= 1 MAC mi , i p j
+
(9)
f mi
i =1
212
10
However, as the modal assurance criterion (MAC) values were unavailable the objective
function in Eq. 6 was considered instead. No focuses was placed in evaluating different
objective functions and the inuence of variations in standard deviations (weight).
All 6 modeling parameters in Wiberg et al. (2009), i.e. damping ratios, modulus of elasticity,
rails, tendons, vehicle speed and mass density, were signicantly inuencing typical dynamic
load effects and the dynamic properties of the bridge. Therefore, they were all included in
the optimization process. Damping and vehicle speed were obviously only considered in the
dynamic analyzes. The importance of rails and tendons was analyzed based on their inclusion
or exclusion in the FE model. The material properties of the rails and tendons were assumed
as known. The prestress effect was included in a geometrically nonlinear large displacement
analysis preceding each linear FE model restart execution for static and dynamic load effects.
Modal damping was used in mode superposition of the moving load simulations. Thus,
in the calculation of the mode shapes and frequencies, the effects of the axial compressive
load on the modes and frequencies are included since the numerical calculation is based on
the conguration at the start of the restart analysis. The linear mode superposition analysis
that followed were then based on these mode shapes and frequencies, resulting in a dynamic
response relative the prestressed bridge conguration.
In Table 1 the frequency columns from left to right are results from: an initial and manually
tuned FE model in Wiberg (2006) but without rails and tendons, fast Fourier transforms
of acceleration signals in Wiberg (2006), enhanced frequency domain decompositions
from operational modal analysis in Wiberg & Karoumi (2009) and stochastic subspace
identications from operational modal analysis in Wiberg (2007). A dash only (see EFDD
in Table 1) means undetected, while the dashes with parentheses (see SSI-PC in Table 1)
stands for detected but unstable in the stabilization diagram as a result of operational modal
analysis in Wiberg (2007). As can be seen from Table 1, already a simple manual updating
resulted in a correct estimation of natural frequencies. However, the obtained high equivalent
modulus of elasticity was questioned and therefore object of optimized updating. In addition,
the initial manually tuned FE model used boundary conditions proven to be somewhat
inaccurate according to Wiberg (2009). Henceforth, the notations differ between initial,
FEinitial , initial manually tuned, FEtuned1 , nal manually tuned, FEtuned2 , and optimized FE
model, FEoptimized .
The optimization process was performed in the following two steps, based on the nal
manually tuned FE model:
1. Identication of updated material parameters (modulus of elasticity and mass density)
from static load tests for strain and deection residuals, together with frequency residuals.
2. Identication of modal damping ratio from dynamic load tests with maximum and root
mean square (rms) acceleration residuals.
The frequency residuals were based on FE solutions using the subspace iteration method
carried out for the structure linearized at the start of the restart analysis after prestress. The
frequencies f 1 and f 5 at 1.3 Hz and 3.55 Hz were used, see Table 1. Strain residuals were based
on axial beam stresses. The FE code can be modied to include the constrained warping effect
on stresses. This was not considered here as it is based on torsional curvatures, manually
given from separate analyzes. To include them as updating parameters was tested but made
No.
Type
213
11
Predicted
FEinitial FEatuned1
Measured
FFTa
EFDDb SSI-PCc
1 bending
1.03
1.30
1.30
1.29
(-)
2 coupled
1.13
1.44
1.45
1.45
(-)
3 coupled
1.91
2.45
2.43
2.43
2.43
4 coupled
2.53
3.26
3.26
3.24
5 coupled
2.78
3.55
3.55
3.50
3.55
a Wiberg (2006)
b
c
Table 1. Natural frequencies (Hz) from measured acceleration signals and for an initial and
manually tuned FE model.
the optimizing algorithm unstable. However, the effect of unconstrained warping is relatively
small in this case, see Wiberg (2009).
Frequency residuals only, strain residuals only, deection residuals only, acceleration residuals
only and their combinations were studied independently according to the principle:
Ej j
p1 =
,
E0 0
(10)
z = (f , f , ,..., ,v ,...,v )
20
1
1 5 1
51 1
p2 =
0
z = (a , . . . , a )
2
3
1
(11)
with the indexes 1 and 2 on p and z corresponding to the two different optimization steps.
Thus, Eq. 10 was used with 2 frequencies, 51 strains and 20 deections all together included,
but also for frequencies, strains and deections separately. Unfortunately, none of the installed
axial strain transducers was active during the dynamic load testing. Therefore, according
to Eq. 11, modal damping was tuned against acceleration residuals only, based on the three
monitoring sections of Fig. 5. The location of all sensors within the monitoring sections were
considered redundant information here but is to be found in for example Wiberg (2006).
An educated guess of the initial vector of updating parameters was necessary. Based on the
results of Wiberg (2006) and Wiberg (2009), manually tuned start values of E0 = 55 GPa and
0 = 2500 kg/m3 were used for modulus of elasticity and mass density, respectively, and
a constant damping ratio of 0 = 0.01 was assigned to all modes and used in the mode
superposition procedure. This corresponds to the modal damping ratio found for prestressed
bridges in design codes (see CEN (2002)).
All load testing used Rc6 locomotives and is described in detail in Wiberg (2009). Mode
superposition was used to calculate the responses of the simulated Rc6 locomotive crossings
with a time step of t = 5 ms. The initial implicit time integration in the geometrically
214
12
nonlinear axial load case operated on the basic equation of motion using the BFGS matrix
update method algorithm (SOLVIA Finite Element System, 2007).
Due to the restrictions of the beam FE model, i.e. using a beam element node to compare
accelerations at the locations of accelerometers in the cross section, these signals were not
comparable in the rst place. Measured and modeled acceleration signals from the crossing
Rc6 locomotive were therefore rst low-pass ltered with a Butterworth lter at 5 Hz and then
smoothed, using Savitzky-Golay ltering. Generally, a FE model is not optimal in reproducing
high frequency content, especially not in representing a complex structure with a simple beam
as is the case here. The low-pass lter at 5 Hz for reasonable acceleration comparison was
therefore motivated. A Savitzky-Golay smoothing lter was chosen as they typically are used
for a noisy signal whose frequency span (without noise) is large and they are considered
optimal in the sense that they minimize the least-squares error in tting a polynomial to
frames of noisy data (The MathWorks, Inc., 2009).
To remove the rotational accelerations due to torsion, the measured signals from two
accelerometers, 1 and 2, at the same distance from the center of gravity but on opposite sides
were combined to compute the vertical translation acceleration only according to:
ab =
a1 + a2
2
(12)
In this way, assuming an innitely stiff cross section, predicted vertical node accelerations
were directly comparable with the measured bending acceleration ab in monitoring section C,
see Fig. 5. However, with only one accelerometer in monitoring section B, the predicted total
vertical acceleration atot for comparison with measurements was calculated from beam node
accelerations as:
atot = ab + L ar
(13)
with ab the bending acceleration at center of gravity, ar the rotational acceleration around the
axial beam axis through center of gravity and L the distance perpendicular to the vertical axis,
from center of gravity to the measuring position.
4.4 Relevant moving load simulations
After optimization, resulting in updated modulus of elasticity, mass density and modal
damping ration, the FE model was nally subjected to all ten HSLM-A congurations for
more reliable moving load simulations. These load congurations crossed the bridge as point
loads with corresponding amplitude functions on the outermost track solely, moving from
NL to SL, at speeds between 100 and 250 km/h. Typical results of interest were bridge deck
deection, acceleration and bending moment. These were all estimated and evaluated in more
detail for the most critical HSLM congurations.
The optimization algorithm operated efciently but it was found unattainable to include all
measurements in the response vector simultaneously. This was basically since the large-scale
simplied model is incapable of predicting results based on all monitoring sections in Fig. 5
Parameter
FEinit
(kg/m3 )
215
13
36
55
55
60
2500
2400
2500
2700
1.0
0.92;2.10
Rail
Tendons
Boundary condition
state 1
state 1
state 2
state 2
Table 2. Differences between updating parameters of initial, manually tuned and optimized
FE model. Modal damping ratios for the optimized FE model corresponds to rms and
maximum acceleration, respectively.
with its restrictions as a beam model and the relatively few number of updating parameters
chosen for the FE model. In addition, some sensors and deection measurements resulted
in result distortion, probably due to a difference in assumed sensor position or other sources
of errors. Frequencies and load effects are also non stationary due to time dependent effects,
not considered in the FE model and therefore inuencing the optimization accuracy since the
measurements took place at different occasions.
The mean result of adding the updating parameter vector from the frequency optimization
procedure separately, the deection optimization procedure separately and the strain
optimization procedure separately, constituted the updating parameter values of modulus of
elasticity and mass density in the optimized FE model. Consequently, these three different
objective function contributors, separately gave different optimized updating parameter
values of modulus of elasticity and mass density. Notice therefore, if the intention for example
is superior dynamic characteristics, it would have been better to concentrate on the frequency
residuals solely, complemented with mode shape information. However, the intention here
was again to implement the algorithm and investigate the possibilities with a simplied FE
model.
The results of the optimized updating parameters are summarized in Table 2 as parameter
value or structural condition before and after optimization. Obviously, the optimized
values of modulus of elasticity and mass density had a negligible inuence concerning the
frequencies. This was reasonable as Table 1 already indicated good agreement in frequencies
between measurements and manually tuned FE model. Therefore, the bending stiffness to
mass ratio for the nal manually tuned FE model at iteration start (55/2500) was similar to
the ratio of the converged optimized FE model at (60/2700) in the typical iteration sequence
of Fig. 8. Still, frequencies were included in the objective function to account for the change in
structural system concerning the inclusion of rails and tendons.
The increased values in modulus of elasticity and mass density were believed to have a larger
effect in the optimization based on static strains and deections. Table 3 summarizes results
for static strains and deections as initially predicted, predicted with the optimized FE model
and measured. Observe that strain results are exemplied with the values of one single strain
transducer and its position in that monitoring section (A, B or C) according to Fig. 5 for one
of the six different static load test congurations in Wiberg (2009). Deections were presented
216
14
0.35
E
1.3
0.3
1.25
0.25
1.2
0.2
1.15
0.15
1.1
0.1
1.05
0.05
1
0.95
1.35
10
15
20
25
30
35
-0.05
40
Iteration
Fig. 8. Typical iteration sequence for optimization according to frequency residuals
separately.
for the largest residual between initial FE model prediction and measured mean deection in
the point of interest (1, 2, 3 or 4) in Fig. 5. Notice that the initial FE model gave results on the
safe side in all cases, while the updated FE model tended to be too optimistic, i.e. gave smaller
load effect values than the measured ones.
Results for accelerations, based on the optimized values of modal damping ratios in Table 2,
are presented in Table 4 for both measured, maximum and rms predicted acceleration. The
corresponding acceleration signals are shown in Fig. 9. These signals represent a complete
Rc6 locomotive crossing from SL to NL, traveling in outer curve at a speed of 120 km/h.
Observe that the measured acceleration in the top of Fig. 9 is based on the signal manipulation
according to Eq. 12. However, the way the measured signal looks may indicate that it still has
some torsional acceleration included, i.e. that the beam element assumption of a rigid cross
section with negligible in-plane stresses may not be completely satisfactory for the studied
section. To be correct, a volume or shell element model of part of the bridge is necessary to
include typical local ange modes, probably inuencing the edge beam but are completely
missed with the stiff cross section of the beam element. Consequently, it seems reasonable
to base an optimized damping ratio on maximum acceleration for comparison with design
codes, as those specify requirements on the maximum acceleration. However, in this case the
predicted maximum acceleration may be too low due to the discretization and solution errors.
Even if the optimized model did not reproduce measured responses with highest accuracy
in all cases it was considered reliable for the type of dynamic analysis assigned in design
codes. At the same time, this is likely to be as far as one can get with a simplied FE
model. It was not the intention with the simplied model in the rst place to most accurately
217
15
A (106 )
37.9
22.7
23.2
Strain B (106 )
2.8
1.7
1.8
C (106 )
16.9
10.2
11.1
Deection 1 (mm)
4.3
2.6
3.0
Deection 2 (mm)
5.8
3.5
4.0
Deection 3 (mm)
9.5
5.7
6.5
Deection 4 (mm)
5.8
3.5
3.5
Strain
Strain
rms
max
rms
max
rms
0.01630
0.00387
0.01195
0.00303
0.01195
0.00303
Acceleration/ms2
Table 4. Modeled and measured vertical accelerations (m/s2 ) in the center of gravity of
monitoring section C, ltered with a low pass lter at 5 Hz.
0.010
0.005
0
-0.005
-0.010
-0.015
0.010
0.005
0
-0.005
-0.010
-0.015
0.010
0.005
0
-0.005
-0.010
-0.015
measured
0
15
10
20
25
max
0
10
15
20
25
rms
0
10
15
20
25
Time/s
Fig. 9. Measured acceleration signal together with maximum and rms acceleration of the
optimized FE model. All signals are ltered with a low pass lter at 5 Hz.
218
16
19
4.8
0.4
moment
4.7
0.3
18
0.2
4.6
4.5
4.4
Deection/mm
Moment/MNm
deection
18.5
Acceleration/ms2
acceleration
4.3
4.2
17.5
100
150
200
0.1
250
4.1
Speed/kmh1
Fig. 10. Envelopes for bridge deck bending moment, vertical acceleration and deection
among all ten HSLM-A congurations with a speed increment of 10 km/h.
predict measurements. The main objective was to implement the optimization methodology
and procedure in combination with statistical techniques to identify individually and jointly
inuencing FE modeling parameters to perform time efcient and relevant moving load
simulations. In addition, the number and choice of updating parameters and the content
of the objective function inuence the possibilities of the adopted model.
Based on the optimized FE model, moving load simulations were performed with the ten
HSLM-A train loads for increased accuracy in dynamic load effect predictions. Fig. 10
illustrates the envelope results for bridge deck bending moment, vertical acceleration and
vertical deection with a speed increment of 10 km/h between 100 km/h and 250 km/h. The
most critical congurations were identied in Fig. 11 and found to be HSLM-A2, HSLM-A7
and HSLM-A10, respectively. For those three train loads, new results were presented in Fig. 12
for a speed increment of 5 km/h. Finally, the identied critical speeds in Fig. 12 were used to
predict the load effects, at the critical location found in Fig. 13, from complete train crossings
in time domain. The critical speeds corresponded to 165 km/h, 240 km/h and 180 km/h for
HSLM-A2, HSLM-A7 and HSLM-A10, respectievely.
Moments and accelerations showed relatively small differences compared to results using the
initial FE model. However, deections were considerably smaller compared to the results of
the initial FE model according to Fig. 14. The optimized FE model corresponded to a dynamic
amplication factor of 1.15 in deection, compared to 1.09 for the initial FE model. Observe
that these results are given for the node with maximum vertical acceleration. Obviously, the
dynamic amplication can be larger elsewhere.
219
17
10
9
HSLM-A conguration
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
100
150
250
200
Speed/kmh1
Fig. 11. Identication of the HSLM-A congurations corresponding to the envelope results.
Bending moment is symbolized with (), vertical acceleration with () and vertical deection
with ().
19
0.4
4.7
moment
4.6
18.5
0.3
18
0.2
4.5
4.4
4.3
4.2
Deection/mm
Moment/MNm
deection
Acceleration/ms2
acceleration
4.1
4
17.5
100
150
200
0.1
250
3.9
Speed/kmh1
Fig. 12. The three most critical HSLM-A congurations, corresponding to HSLM-A2,
HSLM-A7 and HSLM-A10, respectively, for bridge deck bending moment, vertical
acceleration and deection. A speed increment of 5 km/h was used.
220
18
NL
P1
P2
P3
Location
P4
P5
P6
P7
P8
P9
P10
SL
100
200
150
250
Speed/kmh1
Fig. 13. Identication of bridge deck location of maximum bending moment, vertical
acceleration and deection of HSLM-A2, HSLM-A7 and HSLM-A10. Bending moment is
symbolized with (), vertical acceleration with () and vertical deection with ().
3
FEAoptimized
Deection/mm
FEAinitial
-1
-2
-3
10
15
20
25
Time/s
Fig. 14. Vertical deection at the most critical node, i.e. midspan P4-P5 , for HSLM-A10 at
180 km/h.
221
19
6. Conclusions
Railway bridge design codes require detailed analyzes of passing trains at high speeds. Such
analyzes are very time consuming as it involves many simulations using different train
congurations passing at different speeds. Thus, simplied bridge and train models are
chosen for time efcient simulations.
In this chapter a large-scale simplied railway bridge FE model for time efcient moving
load simulations was optimized. The optimization uses natural frequencies from operational
modal analysis and load effects from load testing, based on previously identied updating
parameters. The optimization algorithm was easily implemented for FE model updating
and was shown to operate efciently in a benchmark test and for the specic bridge. The
importance and the potential of optimization procedures in FE modeling for increased
accuracy in moving load simulations is highlighted. Further, it was generally concluded that:
Based on individually and jointly inuencing factors, the optimized FE model predicted
static and dynamic load effects more accurately.
Even though the updated FE model predicted too optimistic load effects, i.e. not being
on the safe side, the updated model resulted in larger dynamic amplication factor in
comparison with the initial model.
The optimized FE model predicted static load effects most accurately. The natural
frequencies were already accurately calculated for the manually tuned FE model.
The previously questioned high-valued equivalent modulus of elasticity was proven to be
reasonable.
Reliable modal damping ratios of 0.92% and 2.10%, for rms and maximum bridge deck
acceleration, respectively, were predicted.
Even if the simplied FE model in some sense is insufcient in load effect predictions, it
stands for better predictions when optimization is used.
More measured dynamic characteristics (natural frequencies, mode shapes and modal
damping ratios), complementing updating parameters and a more detailed FE model are
necessary for dynamic load effect predictions with highest accuracy.
To conclude, the author strongly recommend the working procedure of (1) manual FE model
tuning, (2) updating parameter identication, and (3) nal optimization focused on the result
of interest and therefore based on a suitable objective function with that intention.
Finally, this chapter highlights the potential of the adopted optimization procedure. This
methodology can not only be used for model updating based on measurements, but also be
introduced and customized to work already in the bridge design phase for better (based on
design code requirements) and more cost-effective designs.
222
20
7. Appendix
A. Benchmark input
m1 = 1000 kg
m2 = 20000 kg
Initial velocity:
v = 30 m/s
Initial displacement of m2 :
= 0.05 m
Stiffness:
k = 4 106 N/m
Damping:
c = 1 105 Ns/m
Time step:
t = 0.5 ms
A = 0.06128 m2
I = 0.01573 m4
Material properties:
E = 210 GPa
= 0.3
= 16000 kg/m3
B. HSLM-A
Number of
Bogie axle
Point force
Universal
Coach length
intermediate coaches
spacing
Train
D (m)
P (kN)
N
d (m)
A1
18
18
2.0
170
A2
17
19
3.5
200
A3
16
20
2.0
180
A4
15
21
3.0
190
A5
14
22
2.0
170
A6
13
23
2.0
180
A7
13
24
2.0
190
A8
12
25
2.5
190
A9
11
26
2.0
210
A10
11
27
2.0
210
223
21
C. Notation
acceleration (m/s2 );
mode number;
elements of p;
elements of W;
weighting matrix;
response vector;
axial strain;
standard deviation;
8. References
CEN (2002). Eurocode 1: Actions on structures Part 2: Trafc loads on bridges (prEN 1991-2).
Coleman, T. F. & Zhang, Y. (2009). Optimization ToolboxTM 4 Users Guide, The MathWorks, Inc.
Friswell, M. I. & Mottershead, J. E. (1995). Finite Element Model Updating in Structural Dynamics,
Springer.
Jaishi, B. & Ren, W. X. (2005). Structural nite element model updating using ambient
vibration test results, J. Struct. Engrg. 131(4): 617628.
Jonsson, F. & Johnson, D. (2007). Finite Element Model Updating of the New Svinesund
Bridge. Manual Model Renement with Non-Linear Optimization, Msc thesis, Chalmers
University of Technology, Sweden.
Lagarias, J. C., Reeds, J. A., Wright, M. H. & Wright, P. E. (1998). Convergence properties of
the nelder-mead simplex method in low dimensions, SIAM Journal of Optimization
9(1): 112147.
Mottershead, J. E. & Friswell, M. I. (1993). Model updating in structural dynamics: A survey,
Journal of Sound and Vibration 167(2): 347375.
224
22
Schlune, H., Plos, M. & Gylltoft, K. (2009). Improved bridge evaluation through nite element
model updating using static and dynamic measurements, Engineering Structures
31(7): 14771485.
SOLVIA Finite Element System (2007). Users Manual Version 03.
The MathWorks, Inc. (2009). Signal Processing ToolboxTM 6 Users Guide.
Wiberg, J. (2006). Bridge Monitoring to Allow for Reliable Dynamic FE Modelling. A Case Study of
the New rsta Railway Bridge, Lic thesis, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden.
Wiberg, J. (2007). Railway bridge dynamic characteristics from output only signal analysis,
Proc., Int. Conf. on Experimental Vibration Analysis for Civil Engineering Structures
(EVACES07), Porto, Portugal.
Wiberg, J. (2009). An equivalent modulus of elasticity approach for simplied modelling and
analysis of a complex prestressed railway bridge, Advances in Structural Engineering .
Submitted.
Wiberg, J. & Karoumi, R. (2009). Monitoring dynamic behaviour of a long-span railway bridge,
Structure and Infrastructure Engineering 5(5): 419433.
Wiberg, J., Karoumi, R. & Pacoste, C. (2009). Statistical screening of individual and joint effect
of several modeling factors on the dynamic fe response of a railway bridge, Structural
Control and Health Monitoring . Submitted.
Willis (1850). Deexion of railway bridges under the passage of heavy bodies, Journal of the
Franklin Institute 49(1): 78.
Zrate, B. A. & Caicedo, J. M. (2008). Finite element model updating: Multiple alternatives,
Engineering Structures 30(12): 37243730.
9
Controlling and Simulation of Stray Currents in
DC Railway by Considering the Effects of
Collection Mats
Mohammad Ali Sandidzadeh and Amin Shafipour
Urban rail transit systems are mostly electrically DC type. Usually in these systems for
reducing the costs, running rails are used as the return current paths. Because of the electrical
resistance of rails against the flow of traction currents and also rail to ground conductivity
(despite rail-to-ground insulations), parts of the return current that flow from trains to traction
substations leak to the ground. These leaking currents are called stray currents (as shown in
Fig. 1). Stray currents can enter their neighboring metallic infrastructures and, as a result of
anodic interactions, cause electrochemical corrosions in their leakage path.
The amount of electrochemical mass reduction as a result of anodic interaction due to flow
of current i(t) from a metal to an electrolytic environment can be gained as below
t2
M C i(t )d(t )
(1)
t1
in which C is the electrochemical coefficient and is based on the type of the metal,
electrolyte, and chemical calculations. For example, C is 9.11 KgA-1Year-1 for iron. It means
that a current of 1 ampere can oxidize 9.11 kilograms of iron per year. This can reduce the
safety and the life time of structures and infrastructures in tunnels. The corrosions caused by
stray currents yield a total loss of $500 million each year to the American railway system [1].
When a train is running, especially during its accelerating time, the traction supply current
can sometimes reach 6000 amperes. Since the resistance of rails is between 15 to 20 mKm-1,
the return current can face a voltage drop of up to 120 VKm-1. This voltage, due to
inadequate insulations of rails and their underlying structures, allows the current to leak to
the ground. Stray current control is usually done via improvements performed to
transportation systems or the neighboring ground structures. Increasing the resistance
between rail and ground is a very effective method in reducing stray currents. The increase
in resistance reduces the tendency of return current to flow in any path other than the rails.
Other methods for avoiding corrosions include cathodic protection, rail insulation, traction
voltage increase, employment of proper rails that have very low electrical resistance and
usage of proper grounding systems in traction substations.
226
227
4. The simulations are performed for various grounding scenarios of traction substations
and the influence of stray current collection mats, under various scenarios, and effective
parameters on performance improvement of the collection system, in the simulated line, are
discussed. In the end the stray current and touch potential of rails under presence and
absence of the stray current collection mats, in the worst scenarios, and movement of four
trains from three stations, with the middle station not having a traction substation, are
investigated.
228
compliance with IEC146 standard, the RS should be capable of a constant load supply of
100%, a nominal load supply of 150% for a period of 2 hours and a nominal load supply of
300% for a period of 1 minute. Based on its internal resistance, at 300% overload times, the
voltage drop in the RS would be around 135V.
Station Name
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
A4-6
A4-5
A4-4
A4-3
A4-2
A4
B4
C4
D4-H2
E4
F4
I3G'4
I4
K1J4
P2K4
M4
N4
O4
P4
Q4
R4
S4
Begin
Station Characteristics
Center
End
-3+645
-1+611
-0+15
1+661
2+811
3+971
4+926
5+645
7+064
8+153
9+427
10+716
11+310
12+461
13+773
14+537
15+593
16+489
17+443
18+793
20+661
-3+566
-1+532
0+063
1+740
2+890
4+050
5+005
5+724
7+143
8+232
9+506
10+795
11+389
12+540
13+852
14+616
15+671
16+568
17+522
18+872
20+740
-3+487
-1+453
0+142
1+819
2+969
4+129
5+084
5+803
7+222
8+311
9+585
10+874
11+468
12+619
13+931
14+695
15+750
16+647
17+601
18+951
20+819
Item
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Station
Name
A4-6
A4-5
A4-4
A4-3
A4-2
A4
B4
C4
D4-H2
E4
F4
I3G'4
I4
K1J4
P2K4
M4
N4
O4
P4
Q4
R4
S4
229
Type of Substation
Capacity
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RIC
RS
RS
RS
RS
RS
RIC
RS
RS
RIC
RS
RIC
RS
RS
RS
23300
22500
23300
22500
22500
22500
22500
22500
22500
22500
23300
23300
23300
23300
23300
22500
23300
(2)
v( x ) R0 (c 1 exp( x ) c 2 exp( x ))
(3)
equitation constants and determined based on the boundary values, R is the resistance per
unit length of the rail and G is the leakage conductance between the rail and the ground.
Although this method has the ability of determining quantities in each part with high
accuracy, it has a low flexibility and therefore for various structures, many of its equations
should be altered.
230
The second method is based on using concentrated elements or line model in the DC
mode. In this method, the line is divided into sections with equal lengths and each section is
modeled with a rail to ground resistance and conductance (Fig. 5). In most applications,
selecting the length of each section as 100 meter creates a good accuracy for stray current
determination. Each substation is modeled via its Thevenin equivalent (i.e., a voltage source
and an equivalent resistance) or Norton equivalent circuit. The train is also modeled via a
time-varying current source. Finally, based on proposed model and node analysis rules, rail
surface potential and the current amount profiles are resolved. The linear equation for node
analysis is as below: [4]
Yn e is
(4)
in which Yn is the node admittance matrix, e is the node voltage matrix and is is the node
current sources matrix.
conductances tied to the ith node and yij is the negative of the sum of all conductances
between the ith and the jth nodes. Also, isi is the sum of all currents entering the ith node.
The currents entering the positive and exiting the negative nodes are also considered here.
The node voltage matrix is the unknown matrix that is determined by solving the above
equation. This matrix actually represents the amount of rail surface voltage.
Fig. 5. Simplest form of discrete Norton line model for two stations and rail
Because of the existence of resistance network, the admittance matrix is symmetrical and has
a positive determinant. The voltage of the station rectifier can be determined from the DC
load distribution of the traction network. The current amount in the IT current model, which
is the train model, can be determined from the trains current velocity equations.
Fig. 6 shows the calculation steps based on this model in a DC railway network. According
to the presented flowchart, at first, based on the train time schedule, the locations of various
trains are determined and then each substation voltage is gained by distributing the load
through the system. Also, the traction current of each train is determined according to the
velocity of that specific train. Finally, by solving the node equations, the touch voltage and
stray current for each node are calculated. [10]
231
Although this method is not as accurate as the first one, selection of 100-meter sections
creates the acceptable preciseness required for analysis of stray currents. Besides, this
method allows simulating and modeling different structures with minimal changes in them.
Since all the equations in this method are linear, the simulations have an acceptable
performance.
Fig. 6. Flowchart for determining the touch potential and stray current in the discrete model
232
233
Fig. 8. The current-speed relation of train traction motors in the power consumption and
return modes
80
70
S pe ed (m /s)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
Location (m)
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
234
This part is when no stray current collection system is utilized and train is assumed to be
running and 2 below cases are studied:
At first, while the train is in a specific location, the stray current and rail potential is
observed along the whole line (case I) later, the stray current is studied for a specific
location, while the train moves along the whole line (case 2) finally, the effects of the
collection mats and then the collector cable, in addition to the mats, are investigated.
5.1.1 Case
The first mode is when the train is at a location 100m from the start substation and is
accelerating, while a current of 4400 amperes is fed to the train via the third rail. Such that, a
current of 4060 amperes is fed to the train from the nearest substation. Fig. 11 shows the
leakage current from rail and fig.12 shows potential of running rail along the way for three
different grounding systems.
0.08
Float
Diode Grounded
Grounded
0.06
0.04
0.02
-0.02
-0.04
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
Fig. 11. Leakage current from rail for three different grounding system when the train is 100
meters away from the initial substation
235
Fig. 12. The rail touch potential for three different grounding systems when the train is 100
meters away from the initial substation
It can be concluded from the presented graphs that in all three grounding system, the
current is leaking from the rail to the ground in locations where rail to ground voltage is
positive, and the amount of current flow depends on the rail voltage with respect to ground.
In solidly grounded systems, due to the zero voltage at the substation and the positive rail
to ground voltage, stray current leakage is observed in all locations of the line. In diode
grounded system less stray current leakage is observed, since the rail voltage is negative at
the substation. The reason for this is that diodes turn on only when the voltage of their
cathode is -0.8v less than their anode voltage. In ungrounded system, the stray currents case
is much improved. In the first half of the line, from the train to the substation, stray currents
leak and flow from the rail to the ground (since the rail to ground voltage is positive,) and in
the second half of the line, the leaked stray current flow back to the rail. The cumulative
stray current in the floating system is 0.136 amperes, while it is 0.33 amperes in the diode
grounded and 0.42 amperes in direct grounded systems.
20
Float
Diod Grounded
Grounded
15
10
-5
-10
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
Fig. 13. The rail touch potential in three different grounding systems when the train is 300
meters away from the initial substation
236
When the train is 300 meters away from the initial substation, its current amount reaches a
maximum of 4960 amperes. From this current, 3814 amperes are supplied by the first and
1146 amperes are supplied by the second substation. Because of the increase in traction
current in this case, the stray current and touch potential are also amplified for the three
grounding systems (Fig. 13 -14). As it is shown, touch potential in grounded system in
nearly zero in substations and it's positive in other locations. Also it's approximately twice
that of the floating system in train location. In this case, the amount of rails stray current
increases to 1.1 amperes in the grounded system, 1.0 amperes in the diode grounded system
and 0.3 amperes in the floating system.
Float
Diod Grounded
Grounded
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
-0.05
-0.1
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Location (m)
Fig. 14. Leakage current from rail for the three different grounding systems when the train is
300 meters away from the initial station
5.1.2 Case
At first the investigation is done for a location that is 100m away from the initial first
substation. Fig. 15 presents the resulting stray current for the grounding systems. As shown,
the floating system has the lowest amount of stray current among all the existing grounding
systems, and when the train is more than 200 meters away from the initial substation,
current return from the ground to the rail is also observed. In the grounded system of Fig.
15, at all points of the rail, current leakage, which is more than the other systems, is
observed. The highest amount of stray current is observed when the train is near the 100
meter point.
In solidly and diode grounded systems, in which the rail voltage about the substation is
zero, even after the train has passed location 100m, the rail voltage near the substation
remains positive and the current leakage continues, although at lower magnitudes. The
traction current, however, increases up to location 330 m. In the floating system when the
train passed location 200m, the rail voltage at location 100m point become zero and the flow
of stray current stops. However, further train running makes the voltage of this location
negative and therefore the stray current flows back to the rail.
237
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
-0.01
-0.02
-0.03
-0.04
-0.05
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
(a)
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Location (m)
(b)
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
(c)
Fig. 15. Stray current at location 100 m on the rail in case for a) The floating system b)
Solidly grounded system c) Diode grounded system
Fig. 16 shows the stray current at location 300 m in the line. Like the previous instances,
the stray current is at its peak when the train is also at this location. At location 300m,
due to sufficient distance from the substation, unlike location 100 m, always in all
grounding system, when there is current flow, the touch potential is positive and stray
current exists.
238
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
800
1000
1200
800
1000
1200
(a)
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
(b)
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
(c )
Fig. 16. The stray current at position 300 m, on the rail in case for A) Floating system b)
solidly grounded system c) Diode grounded system
Fig.17 shows the stray current at location 1000 m from the initial substation. The voltage at
this location is just similar to the voltage at location 100 m, however the stray current is
lower and the current amount that returns from the rail to this point is higher. In the floating
system, since this location is closer to the first substation, its voltage remains negative and
the current keeps flowing back to the rail.
239
0.005
-0.005
-0.01
-0.015
-0.02
-0.025
-0.03
-0.035
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
(a)
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
(b)
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
(c)
Fig. 17. Stray current at location 1000 m when the train is running for a) Floating system b)
Solidly grounded c) Diode grounded system
5.2 Using stray current collection mat
The simulations in this section are performed assuming the presence of a reinforcement
bars. If the metal bars in the concrete under the rail intersect with each other, they collect
main portions of stray currents due to creating a low resistance path for conducting these
currents from rail to traction substation. So this collection mat result increasing leakage
current from rail because of making return path to traction substation. Some portions of
240
stray currents leak from the rail to metal bars of the reinforced concrete and continue to flow
through the underlying concrete structure. If this current is not returned to the substation
through a specific current path, the current leak from the concrete structure to the ground
would create corrosions in the metal bars of the concrete. In fact for executing reasons, the
mats are installed in sections with length of 100 m such that there is a gap of nearly 100 mm
between sections. If there is no electrical connections (by wire or cable) between separate
sections of mat, entering current to this structure cause severe damages to them.
100 m
300 m
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
-0.1
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
(a)
100 m
300 m
0.05
-0.05
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
(b)
100 m
300 m
0.06
0.04
0.02
-0.02
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
(c)
Fig. 18. Stray current when the train is at locations 100 m and 300 m from the initial station
and the metallic concrete structure is unprotected a) Stray current leak from the rail b) Stray
current leak to the ground c) Current entering the concrete collection mat
241
In the first part, this metallic structure is consumed disconnected and there is no direct
return path to substation for current that enters which results are shown is fig. 18.
In this case, in the floating system, stray current leak from the rail when the train is at
location 100m from the first substation is 1.37 amperes, of which 0.06 amperes flows through
the concretes metallic structure and causes severe damages to this structure. When the train
is at location 300m, the stray current becomes 0.3 amperes, of which 0.145 amperes flows
through the collection mat. Also about 50% of stray current from rail doesnt enter to this
mat. To overcome this flaw, in addition to interconnecting all parts of the mat to each other,
a path for connecting the collection mat to the negative busbar of the substation should be
provided. This connection is done by means of a diode that helps having cathodic protection
and making the current flow one directional (Fig. 19).
Fig. 19. Using the concrete metallic structure as the stray current collection mat
Fig. 20 shows the stray current from rail when the train is at locations 100m and 300m from
the first substation and the stray current collection mat is used. Because of the mat to ground
resistance and connection of the mat to the negative busbar by the diode, the situation here
is like that of the diode grounded system. In this case, although the substation ground is
considered floating, the substation voltage remains around zero (which is the diode on
voltage) and the rail touch potential at the trains location becomes more than the floating
systems voltage and, as a result, the stray current increases. Fig.21 shows the current which
captured by the collection mat and as shown this amount has increased compared to
previous part. However, as shown in Fig. 22, a large portion of the stray current is collected
by the collection mat and only a small portion of it leaks to the ground. In this case, the total
rail output current at locations 100m and 300m are 0.33 and 1.01 amperes, respectively, of
which 0.065 and 0.099 amperes leak to the ground, respectively, and the rest is collected by
the mats. Using equation (5) for evaluating the efficiency of the stray current collection
system, the system performance becomes 81% at position 100m and 90% at position 300m.
242
The equation is
( ICollected / I st ) 100
(5)
in which ICollected is the amount of stray current collected by the mats and I st is the total
stray current that has leaked from the rail. As shown in Fig. 22, the highest amount of stray
current leakage occurs in the middle point of the line. The reason for this is the long distance
of this position from the substations. Although the highest stray current is observed at
location 300m, the stray current at location 600m is also high and is 70% of the stray current
amount at location 300m. Besides, since location 600m has the highest distance from the line
terminating substations, the resistance remains high at this location for stray currents that
enter the mats, and this makes this middle position to have the highest rate of stray current
leakage to ground in the entire line.
100 m
300 m
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
Fig. 20. Rail stray current when the train is at locations 100 m and 300 m and collection mats
are used
In Fig. 23, the efficiency of the collection system, based on changes of the cross sectional area
of the mat is presented. As mentioned before, the mats used in Tehran Metro line 4 have
cross sectional areas of 1800 mm2. The higher the cross sectional area of the mat, the lower
its resistance per unit length and the higher its stray current collection amount would be.
Rmm is 27.4 m for a cross sectional area of 700 mm2 and 8 m for a cross sectional area of
2400mm2. Fig. 23 shows the graph for the time the highest traction current supply, when the
train is at position 300 m.
243
100 m
300 m
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
Fig. 21. The current collected by the mat when the train is at locations 100 m and 300 m from
the initial substation and stray current collection mat is also used
100 m
300 m
0.04
0.02
-0.02
-0.04
-0.06
-0.08
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Location (m)
Fig. 22. Stray current leakage to ground when the train is at locations 100 m and 300 m from
the first substation and collection mat is used
95
90
85
80
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
2200
2400
Fig. 23. Efficiency of Stray current collection system based on changes of the cross sectional
area of the mat at location 300 m (the worst scenario)
244
Due to the problems in building a continuous collection mat system, existence of current in
the mat system increases the chance for stray current leakage from the mat system itself
(especially at connection points). For protecting and retaining high efficiency of the mat
system, stray current collector cables are used. Stray current collector cables are installed
alongside the rail and they are, at specific locations (e.g., connection points,) connected to
the underlying stray current collection mat. In this way these cables provide a low resistance
and insulated parallel current path that canalizes and directs the main part of the mat
currents to the negative busbar of the substation (Fig. 24).
245
0.2
100 m
300 m
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
Fig. 25. The rail stray current when the train is 100 m and 300 m away from the initial
substation and collector cable is used
100 m
300 m
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
Fig. 26. The current collected by the collection system when the train is 100 m and 300 m
away from the initial substation and collector cable is used
0.015
100 m
300 m
0.01
0.005
0
-0.005
-0.01
-0.015
-0.02
-0.025
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
Fig. 27. Stray current leakage to ground when the train is 100 m and 300 m away from the
initial substation and collector cable is used
246
The reason for the small effect of the collector cable on system efficiency at location 100m is
the closeness of this location to the initial substation. At this short distance of the train from
the substation where the rails have high current output amounts, the substation voltage
cannot decrease enough so as to turn the current collector diode on. As a result, the current
leakage to the ground remains high and the collector cable shows no significant effect on
system efficiency. Fig. 28 shows the collector system efficiency based on the cross sectional
area of the utilized cable, when the cross sectional area of mat is constant. Creation of a low
resistance current path and insulation from the ground (via the collector cable) significantly
decreases the stray current leakage to the ground. Changes in the cross sectional areas of the
cable have effects around 1~2 % on the efficiency of the collector system. Resistances of
cables with cross-sectional areas of 90 mm2 and 270 mm2 are 36 m and 12 m, respectively.
96
95.8
95.6
95.4
95.2
95
94.8
94.6
94.4
94.2
94
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
220
240
260
280
Fig. 28. Efficiency of the collector system based on the cross sectional area of the cable
Fig. 29. Using the stray current collection mat and cable with two connection points between
the mat and the cable.
247
The type of collector cable connections to the mats can be also changed. The above simulations
were for scenarios where the mats were connected to the cables only at one point (Fig. 24). In
Fig. 29, the mats are connected to the collector cables at two points. Figs 30-32 show stray
current leakage from the rail, current leakage to the ground and the stray current collected by
the collector system. In this case, the rail stray current becomes 1.01 amperes and the total stray
current becomes 0.04, which creates an increase in system efficiency to 96.1%.
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
Fig. 30. The rail stray current when the train is 300 m away from the initial substation and
mat and cable are connected at two points.
0.015
0.01
0.005
-0.005
-0.01
-0.015
-0.02
-0.025
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
Fig. 31. Current leak to the ground when the train is at location 300 m from the first
substation and the cable and mat are connected at two points.
0.18
0.16
0.14
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
-0.02
0
200
400
600
Location (m)
800
1000
1200
Fig. 32. The stray current collected by the mats when the train is at location 300 m from the
initial substation and the cable and mat are connected at two points.
248
5.4 Simulation results in the case of usage passenger stations without traction
substation
Some stations in line 4 of Tehran Metro are equipped with electrical substations. The
traction power in these stations is supplied form substations of the neighboring stations.
The train traction current should return to these substations via the running rails. Since the
current path, compared to the previous cases, is increased, different stray current amounts
and rail potentials are observed in these stations. The shorter headways between trains can
result in presence of multiple trains in neighboring stations. The minimum headway in line
4 is planned to be two minutes. In this part of the research, in order to study one of the
worst scenarios, the effect of presence of four trains at the following section is investigated.
For this purpose, P4 station (which has no substation) and its neighboring O4 and Q4
stations (which have substation) are discussed.
In order to analyze the stray current and rail potential, four trains are assumed to be in the
following locations:
Train A, in the southern line of O4 station (travel direction towards P4 station)
Train B, in the southern line of P4 station (travel direction towards Q4 station)
Train C, in the northern line of P4 station (travel direction towards O4 station)
Train D, in the northern line of O4 station (travel direction towards P4 station)
Fig. 34. Location of trains when they are 300m away from their initial stations.
249
Fig. 35 shows the rail stray current for the southern and northern lines when no collection
mats is used. It is obvious that current leakage in P4 station is more than any other location
in the line. These numbers also indicate that the rail potential is high in the neighborhood of
these stations.
South Line
North Line
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
-0.05
-0.1
-0.15
-0.2
-0.25
200
400
600
800
1000
Location (m)
1200
1400
1600
1800
(a)
0.45
South Line
North Line
0.4
0.35
R a il Stra y C u rre nt (A )
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
-0.05
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Location (m)
1200
1400
1600
1800
(b)
South Line
North Line
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
-0.05
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Location (m)
1200
1400
1600
1800
(c)
Fig. 35. The rail stray current in the four-train system in the southern and northern lines a)
Floating system b) Diode grounded system c) Solidly grounded system.
250
The total rail stray current in the southern and northern line is 1.6 and 1.26 amperes for
the floating system, 5.87 and 5.55 amperes for the diode grounded system, and 6.17 and
5.84 amperes for the solidly grounded system, respectively. These numbers are for the
times when all 4 trains are consuming their maximum traction supply current from the
network.
Utilizing stray current collection mats under the rails, with the previously mentioned
characteristics, would highly minimize the amount of stray current leakage to the ground.
Fig. 36 presents the rail voltage, rail stray current, stray current leakage to the ground and
the stray current collected by the mats in the current scenario.
45
South Line
North Line
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
-5
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Location (m)
1200
1400
1600
1800
(a)
0.45
South Line
North Line
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
-0.05
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Location (m)
(b)
1200
1400
1600
1800
251
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
-0.05
-0.1
-0.15
-0.2
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Location (m)
1200
1400
1600
1800
1200
1400
1600
1800
(c)
0.65
0.6
0.55
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Location (m)
(d)
Fig. 36. The rail potential and stray current of the two lines when collection mats are used a)
Rail potential b) Rail stray current c) Current leakage to the ground d) Current entering the
metallic structure of the concrete.
In this case, the stray current leakage from the southern and northern lines is 5.95 and 5.51
amperes, respectively; however, only a current of 1.14 amperes leaks to the ground. In fact,
the efficiency of the collector system is 90%. The system efficiency can be further improved
by using a collector cable alongside the underlying collection mat, which results in even
lower stray current leakage to the ground.
Fig. 37 shows the rail potential and currents in a system that has both the collection mat and
the collector cable. In this system, stray current leakage from the southern and northern line
is 5.96 and 5.52 amperes, respectively. Also, the current leakage to the ground is 0.71
amperes, which results in system efficiency of 94%.
252
South Line
North Line
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
-5
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Location (m)
1200
1400
1600
1800
a)
0.45
South Line
North Line
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
-0.05
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Location (m)
1200
1400
1600
1800
b)
0.1
0.05
-0.05
-0.1
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
1200
1400
1600
1800
Location (m)
c)
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
200
400
600
800
1000
Location (m)
d)
Fig. 37. Rail potential and stray currents of the two lines when collection mats and collector
cable are used a) Rail potential b) Rail stray current c) Current leakage to the ground d)
Current entering the current collector mat.
253
6. Conclusions
Based on the performed simulations, it can be concluded that among the existing grounding
schemes, the solidly grounded system creates the highest amounts of stray current. Using
floating ground systems reduces the stray currents leakage. The systems that create direct
rail to ground connections increase the corrosion rates significantly. The higher the
connection current and the longer the time, the higher the magnitude of the resulting
corrosions would be.
The metallic mats of track-beds and foundations increase the stray current leakage to the
ground. The stray current travels through the mat and creates metallic corrosion in system
terminations. If the mats are used as low resistance paths for absorbing stray currents and
directing them to the substations, not only the corrosions of the mats, but also damages to
the neighboring structures are avoided. For this purpose, the detached structures are
bonded to each other and finally connected to the negative busbar of the substation.
Employing stray current collection mats greatly reduces current leakages to ground.
Increased cross sectional areas (of cables) and unified connectivity would further improve
system efficiency and protection of the mats against corrosions. Stray current collector
cables are also used for increasing system efficiency and protecting against corrosions. These
cables are insulated from the ground and by collecting the stray currents from the mats,
greatly diminish current leakages to soil. The cables can be connected to the collection mats
at specific locations. The number of connections depends on the magnitude of stray current
at a specific location.
Using collection systems as mats can help collect more than 0.85 of rails stray currents. Also
addition of cables to these systems further boosts the system lifetime and stray current
collection up to 0.94.
However, usage of stray current collection system causes floating system acts like diode
grounded system, but as shown in the last scenario, use of voltage control device is
necessary in stations without traction substations.
At locations where there is negative current leakage to the ground, the health of the existing
metallic structures is threatened. Therefore it is recommended to use stray current and
metallic structures voltage changes monitoring systems, at these locations, that conform to
EN50122-2 standard [12].
7. Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Tehran Urban and Suburban Railway Company for
assistance to perform the testing, study and evaluation. They express their appreciations to
Mr. Hamed Zafari for his effort to revise this paper in English language.
8. References
[1] Y. C. Liu and J. F. Chen, Control scheme for reducing rail potential and stray current in
MRT systems, IEE Proc. Electr. Power Appl.,2005, vol. 152issue 3, pp 612-618.
[2] D. Paul, DC traction power system grounding, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., 2002, vol. 38, pp
818824.
254
[3] G. Yu and C. J. Goodman, Modeling of rail potential rise and leakage current in DC rail
transit systems, Presented at IEE colloquium on Stray current effects of DC
railways and tramways, 1990, pp 221-226.
[4] S. Case, DC Traction Stray Current Control. So What is the Problem?, Inst. Elect. Eng.
Seminar (1999).
[5] C. H. Lee, and Wang, H.M., Effects of earthing schemes on rail potential and stray
current in Taipei rail transit systems, IEE Proc. Electr. Power Appl., vol. 148(2001),
148154.
[6] C. H. Lee and C. J. Lu, Assessment of Grounding Schemes on Rail Potential and Stray
Currents in a DC Transit System, IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery,2006, vol. 21,
pp.1941-1947
[7] C. Charalambous and I. Cotton, Influence of soil structures on corrosion performance of
floating-DC transit systems, IET Electr. Power Appl., 2007, vol. 1, pp .9-16
[8] I. Cotton, P. Aylott and P. Ernst, Stray Current Control in DC Mass Transit Systems,
IEEE Transaction on vehicular technology,2005, vol. 54, no.2. pp 722-730
[9] C. Lee, Evaluation of the Maximum Potential Rise in Taipei Rail Transit Systems, IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, 2005, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 1379-1384.
[10] C. H. Lee and Y. S. Tzeng, Assessment of grounding, bonding, and insulation on rail
potential and stray currents in a direct current transit system, JRRT206, 2009, vol.
223, pp. 229-240
[11] W. M. Sim, C. F. Chan, Stray current monitoring and control on Singapore MRT system,
IEEE international Conf. on power system tech., Powercon (2004), pp 1898-1903.
[12] European Standard EN 50122 -2, Railway applications - Protection again leaked
currents, CENELEC, Bruxelles(1999).
10
Cellular Automaton
Modeling of Passenger Transport Systems
Akiyasu Tomoeda
256
Fig. 1. Fundamental diagrams plotted by real data from a Japanese expressway (one-lane
data). The horizontal axis indicates the density of vehicles (vehicles/km) and the vertical axis
indicates (a) the velocity (km/hour) and (b) ow (vehicles/hour), respectively.
First, in Sec. 2 of this chapter, we introduce the fundamental diagram to provide a clear denition
of jamming ow and explain two rule-based models for describing the dynamics of SDPs,
the so-called Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process (ASEP) and Zero Range Process (ZRP), which
can capture fundamental features of jamming phenomena in various collective dynamical
systems. These models have the important property of being exactly solvable, that is, their
steady states are given by a form [611] . Therefore, we treat the behavior of particles in
complex systems by not only numerical simulations but also analytical calculations in the
steady state. In Sec. 3, as an extension of the above stochastic cellular automata, we explain in
detail the Public Conveyance Model (PCM) [12] , which is a fundamental mathematical model
for the passenger transport system by introducing a second eld (passengers eld) which
tracks the number of waiting passengers. In addition, by introducing the route choice model
of passengers explicitly into PCM, we have built a real-time railway network simulation tool
KUTTY, which has been applied to the Tokyo Metro Railway Network [13, 14] , as described
in Sec. 4. Finally, Sec. 5 is devoted to concluding discussions.
The aim of this chapter is to understand the mathematical model for the passenger transport
system built on analytical rule-based models and to introduce the real-time railway network
simulation tool KUTTY as an application of our proposed model.
In the following, we use particle in mathematical models to represent a vehicle, a bus, or a train, to
keep this discussion as general as possible.
Cellular
Automaton
Modeling
of Systems
Passenger Transport Systems
Cellular Automaton
Modeling of Passenger
Transport
2573
of vehicles on the road. So long as the density is sufciently small, the average velocity is
practically independent of the density as the vehicles are too far apart to interact. Therefore,
at sufciently low density of vehicles, the system effectively acts in a state of free ow.
However, in practice, vehicles have to move more slowly with increasing density. This reality
is correctly described in the fundamental diagrams.
As mentioned before, each expressway company in Japan denes the jamming state by a
threshold velocity. Hence, there is no universal denition of the jamming state that can be
treated in a mathematical sense. In order to provide a clear denition of free ow and
jamming ow, one transforms the vertically plotted value from velocity to ow, i.e., from
Fig. 1 (a) to Fig. 1 (b). Surprisingly, this type of fundamental diagram (Fig. 1 (b)) shows the
universal features not only in the dynamics of trafc vehicles but also for other general SDPs
as follows (also see Fig. 2):
(a) At low density, there is almost a linear relation between the ow and the density, which
intersects at zero. The slope at low density corresponds to the average velocity without
congestion.
(b) If the density exceeds some critical value, the so-called critical density c , the ow
decreases monotonically and it vanishes together with the velocity at some maximum
density. 2
(c) The ow has one maximum value at medium density.
The critical density indicates the changing point of the ow state from free ow to jamming
ow. Therefore, free ow and jamming ow can be dened as the lower density region and
higher density region which are separated by the critical density as shown in Fig. 2. Once free
ow and jamming ow are dened in terms of the fundamental diagram, one can determine
whether the ow is really in a state of Jam or not in a rigorous, mathematical sense, even in
the dynamics of various other kinds of SDPs, where the jamming state has been considered
undenable or unclear. Thus, the fundamental diagrams are essential to treat the jamming
phenomena as a mathematical science.
Now let us introduce two simple stochastic cellular automaton models, i.e., ASEP and ZRP,
which are the simple models for non-equilibrium systems of interacting self-driven particles.
In these cellular automaton models, the path (a road or rail) is partitioned into L identical cells
such that each cell can accommodate at most one particle at a time, enforcing the so-called
exclusion principle, that is, the excluded-volume effect is not supposed to be ignored unlike in
the ow of water. 3 Generally, the dynamics of these models are described by a rule 4 . The
rule for dynamics of particles in case of ASEP is very simple, i.e., If the front cell is empty, a
particle can move forward with hopping probability p. as shown in Fig. 3. Note that, in general,
In several situations involving vehicle dynamics, it has been observed that ow does not depend
uniquely on density in an intermediate regime of density. This indicates the existence of a hysteresis
effect and metastable states. The critical density in vehicle dynamics is about 25 (vehicles/km).
In traditional queuing theory, this excluded-volume effect and spatial structure have never been
introduced into the queuing model. An extension of the M/M/1 queuing process with a spatial
structure and excluded-volume effect is introduced in [15, 16] , as the TASEP on a semi-innite chain
with open boundary.
Some of them can be described in the form of equations, such as a master equation or max-plus
equation / tropical-polynomial.
258
Fig. 2. Features and denition of the jamming state in the simplied fundamental diagram
(density vs. ow).
Fig. 3. Dynamics of the Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process: if the next cell is empty, a
particle can move forward with hopping probability p.
Fig. 4. Dynamics of the Zero Range Process after the mapping to the asymmetric exclusion
process: if the next cell is empty, a particle can move forward with hopping probability p(h),
which depends on the distance to the next particle in front.
ASEP is characterized by the hopping rate
P{10}{01} = p,
(1)
P{01}{10} = q,
(2)
2595
Cellular
Automaton
Modeling
of Systems
Passenger Transport Systems
Cellular Automaton
Modeling of Passenger
Transport
the next particle in front., as illustrated in Fig. 4. Indeed, ASEP is considered as a special case
of ZRP.
Here, we impose periodic boundary conditions 5 , that is, we consider that the particles
to move on a circuit so that the transport system is operated as a loop. This means that
the number of particles N on the circuit is conserved at each discrete time step. Moreover,
we distinguish three basic types of dynamics: the dynamical variables may be updated
one after the other in a certain order (sequential update), one after another in random order
(random-sequential update), or in parallel for all sites (parallel update). 6 Now let us employ the
parallel update for all sites in the system as the updating procedures.
As mentioned before, ASEP and ZRP have the important property of being exactly solvable,
that is, their steady states are given by a form [611] . In the case of ASEP with periodic
boundary condition and in parallel dynamics, one obtains the form (see [7] for details)
1
Q() =
1 1 4p(1 ) ,
(3)
2
where Q() is ow of particles, p is the hopping probability and = N/L is the density of
particles.
On the other hand, in the case of ZRP, as a simple example, we now assume that the hopping
probability is
p(1) = p,
p(h 2) = q.
(4)
If q = p, this model is reduced to the ASEP with hopping probability p, as denoted above.
Moreover, if p = q = 1 in ZRP or p = 1 in ASEP, this model is reduced to the deterministic
version of ASEP, which is called the rule-184 cellular automaton. This rule-184 CA model is
one of the elementary cellular automata, which are dened by S. Wolfram (1959 ) [17, 18] .
Various extensions of this rule-184 CA are also proposed as a powerful model for realistically
describing one-dimensional trafc ow.
The fundamental diagram of ZRP dened by (4) with periodic boundary conditions and
parallel update in a parametric representation, where the density (w) = 1/(1 + h) and the
ow Q() = w(w) are calculated for the parameter 0 w 1, is given by the following
equations (see [11] for details)
F ( w ) = 1 p (1) (1 + w )
h(w) = w
log F (w) .
w
n =0
1 p( j )
,
p( j )
j =1
n
wn
(5)
(6)
Fig. 5 shows the numerical simulation results (dots) and analytical calculated results (line)
for ASEP and ZRP, respectively. In both cases, the analytical results show good agreements
with the numerical results. Moreover, both gures captures the universal features ( a) (c) of
general SDPs in transport systems, which were introduced earlier in this section. Therefore,
5
6
ASEP and ZRP with open boundary conditions are also well investigated.
Sometimes, updating the dynamics in parallel for all sites of a given sub-lattice (sub-lattice update) is
distinguished from this parallel update.
260
0.10
0.08
flux
flux
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
0.00
0.0
density
(a) ASEP
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
density
(b) ZRP
Fig. 5. Fundamental diagram of (a) Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process and (b) Zero
Range Process with the parallel update. The dots and the line correspond to the simulation
data and analytical results, respectively. The numerical simulations are done with L = 100
sites. In the case of ASEP, the hopping probability p is 0.5. In the case of ZRP, the hopping
probability p(h) is p(0) = 0, p(1) = 0.1, p(2 h) = 0.5.
various extensions of these models have been reported in the last few years for capturing the
essential features of the collective spatio-temporal organizations in wide varieties of systems,
including those in vehicular trafc [1, 2, 19] .
Until now, public conveyance trafc systems such as buses, bicycles and trains have also been
modeled by an extension of ASEP using similar approaches [1214, 20, 21]. A simple bus
route model [21] exhibits clustering of the buses along the route. The quantitative features of
the coarsening of the clusters have strong similarities with coarsening phenomena in many
other physical systems. Under normal circumstances, such clustering of buses is undesirable
in any real bus route as the efciency of the transportation system is adversely affected by
clustering.
In the next section, a new public conveyance model (PCM) will be explained which
is applicable to buses and trains in a transport system by introducing realistic effects
encountered in the eld (the number of stops (stations) and the behavior of passengers getting
on a vehicle at stops) into the stochastic cellular automaton models.
Cellular
Automaton
Modeling
of Systems
Passenger Transport Systems
Cellular Automaton
Modeling of Passenger
Transport
2617
Fig. 6. Schematic illustration of the PCM. The hopping probability to the bus stop depends
on the number of waiting passengers. Accordingly, if the waiting passengers increase, the
hopping probability to the bus stop decreases. Although case (a) and (b) is the same hopping
probability, the situation is different: (a) next cell is without bus stop, (b) next cell is with bus
stop but without passengers. Case (d) has smaller probability than the case (c), since the
hopping probability depend on the number of waiting passengers. Of course, case (c) is
smaller than the case (b) (also case (a))).
The symbol H is used to denote the hopping probability of a bus entering into a cell that has
been designated as a bus stop. We assume H has the form
H=
Q
min( Ni , Nmax ) + 1
(7)
where min( Ni , Nmax ) is the number of passengers who can get into a bus which arrives at
the bus stop i at the instant of time when the number of passengers waiting at the bus stop
i (i = 1, , S ) is Ni . The form (7) is motivated by the common expectation that the time
needed for the passengers to board a bus is proportional to their number. Fig. 6 depicts the
hopping probabilities schematically. The hopping probability of a bus to the cells that are not
designated as bus stops is Q; this is already captured by the expression (7) since no passenger
ever waits at those locations.
If the form H does not depend on the number of waiting passengers but depends on the
presence of passengers in the case S = L, i.e.,
Q no waiting passengers,
(8)
H=
q
waiting passengers exist,
where both Q and q (Q > q) are constants independent of the number of waiting passengers,
this model corresponds to the Ant-Trail-Model, which also shows quite similar clustering
phenomena to those of vehicles in the collective movement of ants and obtains the results
through approximate analysis [22, 23] . Moreover, if the form H is always constant, this model
is reduced to the ASEP.
In principle, the hopping probability H for a real bus would depend also on the number
of passengers who get off at the bus stop; in the extreme situations where no passenger is
waiting at a bus stop, the hopping probability H would be solely decided by the disembarking
passengers. However, in order to keep the model theoretically simple and tractable, we ignore
the latter situation and assume that passengers get off only at those stops where waiting
passengers get into the bus and that the time taken by the waiting passengers to get into
the bus is always adequate for the disembarking passengers to get off the bus.
262
The PCM model reported here can be easily extended to incorporate an additional dynamical
variable associated with each bus to account for the instantaneous number of passengers in it.
But, for the sake of simplicity, such an extension of PCM is not reported here 7 . Instead, we
focus on the simple version of PCM. As shown in Fig. 7, the model is updated according to
the following rules:
1. Arrival of a passenger
A bus stop i (i = 1, , S) is picked up randomly, with probability 1/S, and then the
corresponding number of waiting passengers is increased by unity, i.e., Ni Ni + 1, with
probability f to account for the arrival of a passenger at the selected bus stop. Thus, the
average number of passengers that arrive at each bus stop per unit time is given by f /S.
2. Bus motion
If the cell in front of a bus is not occupied by another bus, each bus hops to the next cell
with probability H. Specically, if passengers do not exist in the next cell the hopping
probability equals Q because Ni is equal to 0. Otherwise, if passengers exist in the next cell,
the hopping probability is Q/(min( Ni , Nmax ) + 1). Note that, when a bus is loaded with
passengers to its maximum boarding capacity Nmax , the hopping probability is Q/( Nmax +
1), the smallest allowed hopping probability.
3. Boarding a bus
When a bus arrives at the i-th (i = 1, , S) bus stop cell, the corresponding number
Ni of waiting passengers is updated to max( Ni Nmax , 0) to account for the passengers
boarding the bus. Once the door is closed, no more waiting passengers can get into the bus
at the same bus stop although the bus may remain stranded at the same stop for a longer
period of time either because of the unavailability of the next bus stop or because of the
trafc control rule explained next.
We introduce a trafc control system that exploits the information on the number of buses in
each segment between successive bus stops, as well as a block section of the railway system.
Every bus stop has information Ii (i = 1, , S) which is the number of buses in the i-th
segment of the route between the i-th and next (i + 1)-th bus stops at that instant of time.
If Ii is larger than the average value I0 = m/S, where m indicates the total number of
buses, a bus remains stranded at a stop i as long as Ii exceeds I0 . In steps 2, 3, and the
information-based control system (step 4), these rules are applied in parallel to all buses and
passengers, respectively.
We use the average speed V of the buses, the number of waiting passengers N at a bus
stop and the transportation volume R, which is dened by the product of velocity of the i-th
bus Vi {0, 1} and the number of on-board passengers Mi (0 Mi Nmax ), i.e.,
R=
Mi Vi ,
(9)
i =1
as three quantitative measures of the efciency of the public conveyance system under
consideration; a higher V , a higher R and smaller N correspond to a more efcient
transportation system.
We have reported the extended PCM by incorporating the disembarking passengers explicitly for the
case of the elevator system in [24] .
2639
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Fig. 7. Time development of public conveyance model. The upper path of cells indicates the
state of particles and the lower one indicates the state of passengers. The number in each cell
represents the number of waiting passengers. The cells with diagonal lines indicate cells
without bus stops.
0.6
Waiting passengers
Average velocity
500
f 0.3
f 0.6
f 0.9
0.8
0.4
0.2
f 0.3
f 0.6
f 0.9
400
300
200
100
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
Density
0.8
0.2
0.4
0.6
Density
0.8
Fig. 8. The plot of V and N without information for S = 5 and f = 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9.
In the simulations presented here, we set L = 500, S = 5, Q = 0.9, q = 0.5 and Nmax =
60. The main parameters of this model, which we varied, are the number of buses m and
the probability f of the arrival of passengers. The density of buses is dened by = m/L
in the same way. We study not only the efciency of the system but also the effects of our
control system by comparing the characteristics of two trafc systems one of which includes
the information-based control system while the other does not.
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f 0.3
f 0.6
f 0.9
0.6
500
Waiting passengers
Average velocity
0.8
0.4
0.2
f 0.3
f 0.6
f 0.9
400
300
200
100
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
Density
0.8
0.2
0.4
0.6
Density
0.8
Fig. 9. The plot of V and N with information for S = 5 and f = 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9
100
Flux Passengers
Flux Passengers
100
80
60
40
20
0
0.0
f 0.3
0.2
f 0.6
f 0.9
0.4
0.6
Density
0.8
80
60
40
20
0
0.0
1.0
f 0.3
0.2
f 0.6
f 0.9
0.4
0.6
Density
0.8
1.0
Fig. 10. Fundamental diagrams for the transportation volume. (a) The case without the
information-based control system, (b) The case with the information-based control system.
500
without info
with info
0.6
Waiting passengers
Average velocity
0.8
0.4
0.2
without info
with info
400
300
200
100
0
0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
Density
0.8
0.2
0.4
0.6
Density
0.8
Fig. 11. Two efciency plots V and N for the parameters S = 5, Q = 0.9, q = 0.5, and
f = 0.9.
Some of the signicant results of the numerical simulations of the PCM are as follows. In
Fig. 8 and Fig. 9, we plot V and N against the density of buses for several different values
of f . Fig. 8 (a) demonstrates that the average speed V , which is a measure of the efciency
of the bus trafc system, exhibits a maximum at around = 0.2 0.3, which reects the
bus bunching especially at large f . As shown in Fig. 8 (b), The average number of waiting
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f 0.3
f 0.6
f 0.9
0.2
0.4
0.6
Density
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0.0
Flux Vehicles
Flux Vehicles
0.30
0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
0.0
0.8
f 0.3
f 0.6
f 0.9
0.2
0.4
0.6
Density
0.8
Fig. 12. Fundamental diagrams for the ow of vehicles. (a) The case without the
information-based control system, (b) The case with the information-based control system.
passengers N , whose inverse is another measure of the efciency of the bus trafc system,
is vanishingly small in the region 0.3 < < 0.7; N increases with decreasing (increasing)
in the regime < 0.3 ( > 0.7). The results for the PCM with information-based trafc control
system are shown in Fig. 9. The density corresponding to the peak of the average velocity
shifts to lower values when the information-based trafc control system is switched on. The
average number of waiting passengers N decreases between Fig. 8 (b) and Fig. 9 (b) in the
regions 0.1 < < 0.3 and 0.7 < < 0.9.
The other measurement of the efciency, the transportation volume R, is shown in Fig. 10. The
optimal density which shows higher V and lower N does not always correspond to the
most efcient operation for the transportation volume, since that is maintained substantially
constant except at low density, even though the density of vehicles increases. This is because
the number of buses with small transportation volume increases even though the average
velocity decreases. Thus, we have found that the excess buses result in unneeded buses which
has no passengers since the transportation volume is the same.
The data shown in Fig. 11 establishes that implementation of the information-based trafc
control system does not necessarily always improve the efciency of the public conveyance
system. In fact, in the region 0.3 < < 0.7, the average velocity of the buses is higher if the
information-based control system is switched off. Comparing V and N in Fig. 11, we nd
that the information-based trafc control system can improves the efciency by reducing the
crowd of waiting passengers. However, in the absence of waiting passengers, introduction of
the information-based control system adversely affects the efciency of the public conveyance
system by holding up the buses at bus stops when the number of buses in the next segment of
the route exceeds I0 . Therefore, we have found the information-based trafc control system
can improve the efciency in a certain density region, but not in all possible situations.
The typical fundamental diagrams for the ow of vehicles in the PCM are given in Fig. 12.
The ow of vehicles without the information-based control system gradually decreases as the
arrival rate of passengers increases. In contrast, the ow with the information-based control
system drastically decreases for intermediate densities, where there are no waiting passengers
in Fig. 9, showing a trapezoidal shape. This trapezoidal shape is similar to the fundamental
diagram in [25] and [26] , where a blockage effect is articially introduced into the rule-184
cellular automaton to take a ow bottleneck into account. Thus, in the absence of waiting
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12
Our real-time simulator KUTTY is operated not only based on the input data but also by
extracting data from a database (see Fig. 13). In this section, we present the assembly of
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the database and explain its components: OD (origin-destination) trafc demand and network
structure.
4.1.1 Origin-destination trafc demand estimation
In order to apply our PCM to the railway transportation system in a realistic way, real data
of the OD trafc demand of passengers is indispensable on the network. In general, it is
very difcult to obtain this sort of data. Fortunately, the Tokyo Metro Company posts one-day
rider-ship of all stations on its web-site. Moreover, at the mutual entry stations 8 , the rider-ship
also includes the inux and outux of passengers. Nevertheless, the data only record the sum
of passengers getting through the station gate and do not distinguish whether the passengers
enter or leave the station. Therefore, we assume that half of the passengers enter the station
and the other half leave the station. This is reasonable because most people go to work or
school in the morning and go back home in the evening. Thus they return to the station where
they originally entered .
Under these reasonable assumptions, we can estimate the OD demand from one-day
rider-ship data of all stations and have veried that the estimated number of passengers is
suitable for the data.
When a passenger enters a station i, the probability that the passengers destination is j is
Pi j =
Nj
j Nj
(10)
In 2007, the Tokyo Metro Railway Network consisted of 8 lines and 138 stations 9 . Some
of these stations are transfer stations, in which several lines intersect. In our model, the
stations are mapped to nodes. Under our scheme, each node corresponds one-to-one to the
ID number of each station on each line. That is, a transfer station is mapped to more than one
nodes, depending on how many lines intersect (e.g., Otemachi of the Tozai Line (T09) and
Otemachi of the Marunouchi Line (M18) are mapped to different nodes). The connection
between neighboring stations is referred to as a segment and the connection inside a transfer
station is referred to as a link. Using this system, the Tokyo Metro Railway Network has 169
nodes, 170 segments and 50 links. Passengers can travel from any station to any other station
in this network with at most two transfers. Therefore, the calculation time in searching for a
possible route notably is decreased by restricting transfers to more than two. We have made
the database of all paths by using Dijkstras Algorithm [31].
4.2 Models and homogenization method
In this section, we rst present the route choice model of the passengers. Then, the
train movement model, which is built on PCM, is introduced. After that, we propose a
homogenization re-scheduling method to alleviate congestion.
8
9
The trains still move on from these stations, beyond which the transportation system is operated by
other companies, such as Japan Railway. The mutual entry stations are shared by several companies.
Since 2008, a new line has opened to trafc, but we have not included the new line here.
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14
Fig. 14. Illustration of all cases of the hopping probability from a train: (a) Hopping into a
non-platform cell. (b) Hopping into a platform cell (rst time). (c) Hopping into a platform
cell after one stop in the case of (b).
4.2.1 Route choice model
For simplicity, we assume that each segment of all lines is partitioned into four identical cells
and each platform is designated as one cell such that each cell can also accommodate at most
one train at a time. Fig. 14 depicts the hopping probabilities in the train model schematically.
Let us denote the probability that trains hop into a non-platform cell as Q, the hopping
probability of a train to a platform cell as H, the number of passengers waiting at the platform
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Fig. 15. Two types of the re-scheduling methods. The traditional rescheduling method (a) is
to adjust the time gap to Tsch . However, our homogenization method (b) is to adjust the time
gap to a value which depends on the distribution of the number of passengers.
at the instant of time when a train arrives at the upstream neighboring cell as W and the
maximum carrying capacity of trains as Wmax , we assume that
1
,
Q
,
(13)
H = min
a min(W, Wmax ) + 1
where a is a parameter. However, if the train fails to hop into the platform cell once, then it
will hop with probability Q in the next time step. This is because trains are controlled in units
of very small segment by the railway signaling system, and it is not realistic that trains stop
stochastically again and again. In this section, the parameters are set to a = 0.2, Q = 1.
4.2.3 Homogenization re-scheduling
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trains. In the conventional re-scheduling method, this is fullled by equalizing the time gaps
between neighboring trains. For instance (see Fig. 15), suppose that train B is expected to
arrive at the next station at time t = TB and train A is expected to arrive at the station at time
= T T T
t = TA . If TA TB > Tsch , then the delay time of train B is determined by TD
B
A
sch
(see Fig. 15 (a)). Here Tsch is the scheduled time gap.
The delay times of trains located further downstream can be calculated similarly.
In our homogenization re-scheduling method, the number of passengers in each train is
homogeneously-distributed by adjusting the distribution of trains as shown in Fig. 15 (b).
Here PB and PA correspond to the number of boarding passengers on trains B and A
respectively. Ps denotes the number of passengers waiting at the platform. EB and E A denote
the number of passengers that will get off at the station i. Let symbol I be the number of
passengers who arrive at the station per unit time. The expected arrival times of B and A
at the station i are still denoted as TB and TA . Our objective is not equalizing the time gap
but homogenizing the number of passengers, that is, the number of passengers on B and A is
homogenized by extending TB to X. We calculate X from the equation 10
PB + ( Ps + IX ) EB = PA + I ( TA X ) E A .
(14)
The left-hand side (right-hand side) of (14) is the number of passengers on B (A) after
departing from the station. The delay time TD of B is thus decided by
TD = X TB .
(15)
Having obtained the delay time of train B, the delay times of trains located further
downstream can be calculated similarly.
4.3 Simulations and results
Fig. 16 shows two snapshots of our simulator KUTTY which display the direct simulation
model and the ow pattern of the passengers of each segment as a visualization on the route
map.
By simulating the ow of passengers quantitatively in all segments all over the network, we
have found that the most congested area in the Tokyo Metro Railway Network is Otemachi
Station on the Tozai Line (T09). Based on this result, we have simulated the case where
a virtual accident occurs at Otemachi Station on the Tozai Line so that the trains of Tozai
Line could only be operated on two sides of the station. Under this circumstance, the ow
pattern of passengers will be changed signicantly. This simulation, therefore, provides a very
important clue for train scheduling with respect to the potential needs of users for alternative
routes in case of accidents.
Fig. 17 shows the quantitative results of several simulations. Fig. 17 (a) shows that the number
of passengers who take the Tozai Line decreasing by about 25 percent from normal operation
due to the accident at T09. In contrast, the number of passengers who take the Ginza Line and
the Hibiya Line increases by about 15 percent and 10 percent respectively. We believe this is
10
Here we would like to mention that Eq.(5) is not always valid. For example, when PB + Ps EB > Wmax ,
Eq.(5) will be invalid. In order for Eq.(5) to be valid, the conditions TB < X < TA and 0 < PB + ( Ps +
IX ) EB < Wmax should be met. Fortunately, in our simulations, this is always the case.
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Fig. 16. Snapshots of our simulator KUTTY. (a) The dynamical animation window of our
model. (b) The entire map view, used to visualize the changing-ow in the route map. In
KUTTY, the high ow regions (low-ow regions) are colored red (blue). This ow
dynamically changes with time.
Fig. 17. Comparison plot of the number of passengers between normal operation and
operation with an accident at T09. (a)The number of passengers in each line comparing
ordinary operation and congested conditions. (b)The number of passengers in each segment
of the Ginza Line comparing ordinary operation and congested conditions.
because the Ginza Line intersects with the Tozai Line at T10, and the Hibiya Line intersects
with the Tozai Line at T11, both of which are important transfer stations. In contrast, the
Hanzomon Line intersects with the Tozai Line at T07, which is not such an important transfer
station as T10 and T11. As a result, the passenger ow of the Hanzomon Line is essentially
unaffected. Moreover, this result also implies that Otemachi Station is not the destination of
most passengers on the Tozai Line, because otherwise the ow rate of the Hanzomon Line
would increase (from T10 to Z09 to Z08, and from T07 to Z07 to Z08). Fig. 17 (b) shows the
number of passengers on all segments of the Ginza Line. It can be seen that in the area from
G05 to G11, the number of passengers increases remarkably. By transferring at these stations,
passengers could change to the Marunouchi Line at G09, the Chiyoda Line at G06, and the
Namboku Line at G05 and G06. Note that under normal operation, passengers change to the
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Fig. 18. Comparison plot of the passenger density of train A among the three systems. The
congestion rate among the uncontrolled system, ordinary controlled system, and our
homogenization system.
Marunouchi Line and to the Chiyoda Line at Station T09 and to the Namboku Line at Station
T06.
Next we investigate the effect of our homogenization re-scheduling method. We suppose that
the number of passengers waiting at G03 on the Ginza Line increases suddenly at t = t0 ,
so that the passenger density of the nearest upstream train A becomes 1 when it arrives at
G03 at t = t1 . We have compared the evolution of the passenger density on train A in
three systems: the system without re-scheduling, the system with conventional re-scheduling,
and the system with homogenization re-scheduling. In Fig. 18, it can be seen that systems
with re-scheduling decrease the passenger density of the train when the train is between
G13 and G18. Moreover, we have found that our homogenization method is better than the
conventional re-scheduling method.
5. Concluding discussions
In this chapter, we have proposed a new mathematical model for passenger transport systems,
the so-called public conveyance model, built on the stochastic cellular automaton, which is
exactly solved in the steady state. First, we dened the jamming state as a mathematical
science and introduce the fundamental diagram to discuss the ow of particles. As two
examples of analytical rule-based models, ASEP and ZRP, the fundamental diagrams obtained
from numerical simulations and analytical calculations have been demonstrated.
As a one-dimensional case of public conveyance model, we investigated the bus route system
and its efciency by introducing three measurements: average velocity, the number of waiting
passengers and transportation volume. Moreover, the effectiveness of an information-based
control system, in which the number of particles between successive stops is adjusted, was
discussed by comparing the case without control and with control in terms of these three
measurements. As we found that implementation of the information-based trafc control
system does not necessarily always improve the efciency of the public conveyance system.
As an application of the public conveyance model, we have proposed a network simulator
KUTTY, which is based on the route choice behaviors of passengers. KUTTY takes into
account the complex topology of the Tokyo Metro Railway Network and the OD demand
estimated from the rider-ship data provided by the Tokyo Metro company. KUTTY can
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6. Acknowledgements
This chapter is owed to colaborated works with my colleagues. I would like to give a huge
thanks to Debashish Chowdhury, Andreas Schadschneider, Katsuhiro Nishinari, Rui Jiang,
Daichi Yanagisawa, Ryosuke Nishi, Mitsuhito Komatsu, Il Yun Yoo, Makoto Uchida, and Ryo
Takayama for enjoyable collaborations.
7. References
[1] D. Chowdhury, L. Santen and A. Schadschneider, Phys. Rep. 329 (2000), 199-329.
[2] D. Helbing, Rev. Mod. Phys. 73 (2001), 1067-1141.
[3] A. Schadschneider, D. Chowdhury and K. Nishinari, "STOCHASTIC TRANSPORT IN
COMPLEX SYSTEMS FROM MOLECULES TO VEHICLES", Elsevier, (2010).
[4] K. Nishinari, Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems 8, p.175 (2009).
[5] K. Nishinari, Y. Suma, D. Yanagisawa, A. Tomoeda, A. Kimura and R. Nishi, Pedestrian
and Evacuation Dynamics 2008, pp.293-308 (2010).
[6] B Derrida, M R Evans, V Hakim and V Pasquier, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 26 1493 (1993).
[7] M. Schreckenberg, A. Schadschneider, K. Nagel and N. Ito, Phys. Rev. E 51 2939 (1995).
[8] F. Spitzer, Adv. Math. 5, 246 (1970).
[9] M. R. Evans, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 30, 5669 (1997).
[10] M. R. Evans and T. Hanney, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 38, R195 (2005).
[11] M. Kanai, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 40 pp.7127-7138 (2007).
[12] A. Tomoeda, D. Chowdhury, A. Schadschneider and K. Nishinari, Physica A, 384,
600-612 (2007).
[13] A. Tomoeda, M. Komatsu, I. Y. Yoo, M. Uchida, R. Takayama and K. Nishinari, Cellular
Automata (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer), 5191 (2008), 433.
[14] A. Tomoeda, M. Komatsu, I. Y. Yoo, M. Uchida, R. Takayama, R. Jiang and K. Nishinari,
GESTS International Transaction on Computer Science and Engineering, 54, 81, (2009).
[15] C. Arita, Phys. Rev. E, 80, 051119, (2009).
[16] C. Arita and D. Yanagisawa, J. Stat. Phys., 141, 829, (2010).
[17] S. Wolfram, Theory and Applications of Cellular Automata (1986) (Singapore: World
Scientic).
[18] S. Wolfram, Cellular Automata and Complexity (1994) (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley).
[19] A. Schadschneider, Physica A 313, 153 (2002).
[20] R. Jiang, B. Jia and Q.S. Wu, J. Phys. A 37, 2063 (2004).
[21] O. J. OLoan, M. R. Evans, M. E. Cates, Europhys. Lett. 42, 137 (1998); Phys. Rev. E 58,
1404 (1998).
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11
Gaming Simulations for Railways:
Lessons Learned from Modeling Six Games
for the Dutch Infrastructure Management
1Delft
Sebastiaan Meijer
University of Technology
2Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
1The Netherlands
2Sweden
1. Introduction
The Dutch railway system is a highly complex and heavily utilized network (Goverde, 2005;
CBS, 2009). Worldwide it is one of the most densely driven networks, yet its capacity has to
increase further. Improvements in the domain of capacity management and traffic control
are increasingly difficult to implement because of the large interconnectedness of all
processes. The de-bundling of rail infra management (ProRail) and train services
(predominantly NS, and some smaller regional lines by Syntus, Veolia, Arriva a.o. plus
freight train operators) has created an operational process in which multiple offices and
platform/line operations need to synchronize to control the daily train flow.
ProRail, the Dutch railway infrastructure manager, has stated a goal to increase the capacity
by 50% as a challenge till the year 2020. This cannot be done the old way through increased
amounts of physical infrastructure, as both money and geographical space are insufficient.
Furthermore, the complexity and interconnectedness of the network is yet at such a level
that more of this will lead to less resilience and becoming (even more) prone to
disturbances. Because of the 50% growth challenge till the year 2020, new and smarter ways
of managing capacity and traffic are key for the success of the Dutch rail infrastructure for
society. The ProRail organization has taken up gaming simulation as a key method to
improve the innovation process (Meijer, forthcoming).
Unique for gaming simulation is the highly detailed simulation of both technical and
process variables of rail infrastructures and the decision and communication function of real
people in their real roles. The method does not assume models of decision-making but
draws upon the real-world knowledge of professionals in the operation. Over the course of
the projects that ran in 2009, 2010 and 2011, the specific setting of the ProRail organization
proved to be both a complex and fruitful environment for gaming simulation. The
complexity was found in the large number of stakeholders both in and outside the
organization and in the interconnectedness of every aspect of train traffic control on the
performance of passenger and freight train service providers.
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In the year 2009, the gaming group of Delft University of Technology was asked to facilitate
three projects using gaming simulation methodology. These projects ran so successful that
the organization asked the Delft researchers to identify where in the organization large-scale
implementation of gaming simulation methodology would be most promising. Based upon
a series of interviews through the organization, ProRail and TU Delft jointly formulated a
four-year research and implementation proposal that is now in operation. The first gaming
sessions in this new collaboration have been held and results have led to methodological
lessons-learned on how to model. This chapter reports on three modeling issues crucial to
gaming simulation for railway and similar systems. How to abstract from the nitty-gritty
details while keeping the simulation real and valid enough for real-world operators to
participate and do their job is the focus of this chapter.
2. Problem description
Innovation in the Dutch railways is on one hand much needed, while on the other hand very
complex to achieve. The 1995 politically instigated de-bundling of rail infra management
(ProRail) and train services (predominantly NS, and some smaller regional lines by Syntens,
Veolia, a.o.) has created an operational process in which multiple offices and platform/line
operations need to synchronize to control the daily train flow. The increasing importance of
rail services for individual provinces in the Netherlands has led to multi-party tendering (Van
de Velde et al, 2008). In this complex multi-actor and multi-level environment the strategic
safeguarding of public values in managing operations proofs often impossible (Steenhuisen et
al, 2009). The combination of these events and trends leads to a challenge to innovate on two
aspects, being quality in operations and ways to increase the capacity.
2.1 Quality in operations Robustness and resilience
Over the past decade, the railways in The Netherlands have received major criticism for the
quality of its operations. From a policy perspective this has led to performance contracts for
both the main train service operator (NS) and the publicly owned infrastructure manager
ProRail (Van de Velde et al, 2009). Over the past decade the performance has seen
improvements on the critical performance indicators, but still it is not regarded to be a high
quality service due to many small delays, overly crowded trains and non- or mal-informed
passengers. The rail system often suffers from small defects, leading to bigger delays when
the problems spread like an oil spill over the regions and lines. If we define robustness as
the degree to which a system is capable to withstand problems within the limits of the
designed system, then the robustness of the railways is questionable.
A lower score on robustness would not have been so detrimental is the railways were more
resilient. Hollnagel et al (2006) define resilience as the ability of a system or an organization
to react to and recover from disturbances at an early stage, with minimal effect on the
dynamic stability. The challenges to system safety come from instability, and resilience
engineering is an expression of the methods and principles that prevent this from taking
place. Furthermore the recent years have shown that snow, storms, national festivities and
other outliers in the situation for which the system is not specifically designed cause total or
at best partial collapse of the national system, as soon as small problems start to occur. This
has led to Parliamentary Investigation (Rekenkamer, 2011). According to Hale and Heijer
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(2006), railways, from their assessment of safety operations at the Dutch Railways, would
seem to be examples of poor, or at best mixed, resilience, which can, however, still achieve
high levels of safety, at least in certain areas of their operations. Hence safety is achieved by
sacrificing goals, traffic volume and punctuality. The system does not achieve all its goals
simultaneously and flexibly and is not resilient.
2.2 Capacity increases
The Dutch railway sector will face a massive growth of transport demand in the
forthcoming decade. This growth is both expected in passenger and in freight transport.
Currently, the Dutch railway network is one of the most densely used networks in the
world, approaching its maximum capacity given the current infrastructure and control
mechanisms. The projected increase in demand requires a step-change in both the physical
and control aspects of the railways. ProRail formulated an ambitious program, called Room
on the Railways (Ruimte op de Rails, in Dutch) to increase the number of trains on the
network by 50% before the year 2020. One of the major components of this program is the
plan for high-frequency passenger trains on the major corridors. Currently there are (on
average) 4 intercity, 2 to 4 local and 1 or 2 freight trains per hour on the major corridors. This
should increase to 6 intercity, 6 local and 2 freight trains before 2013. This new frequency of
trains is often called untimetabled travelling as the passenger can just go to a station
without checking departure times: the next train will be there soon. The official title of the
schedule is High Frequency Train Transport.
The projected increase of capacity cannot be achieved by building new infrastructure alone:
the costs for the complete program would be around 9 billion euro, and the time for
procedures and construction would frustrate the transport demand for years. ProRail has
taken up the challenge to achieve the goals with only half of this budget by combining
strategic choices for new infrastructure with new control and management solutions.
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(Bekebrede and Mayer, 2005; De Freitas and Martin, 2006; Kriz and Hense, 2003). Learning
about innovation in games is a popular topic for MBA-style versions, typically related to
markets and supply chains (Meijer et al, 2006; Meijer, 2009). Learning and communicating
complex issues are in this stream highly related. An important aspect for ProRail is the
opportunity to communicate ideas. While a slideshow can communicate a message, a
gaming simulation enables you to experience it for yourself (Bekebrede, 2010). The aspects
about which it is sometimes difficult to communicate at present include: the impact of new
timetables (on all categories of employees), the need for precision in carrying out tasks
(employees), the influence of disruptions on the network as a whole (general public) and to
experience the key aspects of traffic control / capacity management (general public). At
present, visualizations of train flow models such as FRISO and SIMONE (Middelkoop and
Loeve, 2006) are available, but it is not possible to experience these aspects by sitting at the
controls. The opportunity for communication gives employees the chance to play a role that
they do not have in reality. This can help clarify different points of view.
In the world of policymaking, there is half a century of history in using gaming as an
intervention to bring together policy makers and other stakeholders in participatory events.
Games provide a way to collectively decide firstly on the system boundaries and secondly
on the dynamics of the system that will be played. Then, policies can be formulated in this
simulated environment (Duke, 1974; Duke and Geurts, 2004; Mayer, 2010). This approach
relies on Duke and Geurts (2004) 5-Cs of gaming simulation for improving policy making,
namely by understanding the Complexity, enhancing Creativity, enabling Communication,
reaching Consensus and Commitment to action. Within ProRail this role of gaming
simulation is particularly relevant for management questions.
Increasingly popular is the possibility to try out the effect of policies on a simulated system,
and see whether innovation in roles, rules, objectives and constraints can be made. This
approach, although very relevant for policy-making, is actually a third use of gaming, for
testing hypotheses (Peters et al, 1998). This application is less common and puts great
emphasis on the verification and validation of the gaming simulation (Klabbers, 2003, 2006;
Noy et al, 2006; Meijer, 2009). For innovation at ProRail, this use is at the core of the
reasoning behind choosing gaming simulation as a new method in reducing uncertainty in
more complex, system level changes.
A fourth use that is emerging is linked to the gamification of society (Hiltbrand and Burke,
2011). Innovation can take place through game play if the incentives are such that the crowd
can generate and implement their ideas in a system. Few scientific literature on this exists as
of yet, but examples are UK innovation in pensions (Gartner, 2011), crowd sourcing of ideas
in an insurance company (Bekebrede and Meijer, Forthcoming)
279
second issue, especially with the more policy-oriented approaches and the popularity for
learning in higher education is the focus on participants with a relatively large capability in
thinking abstract, as policy makers and students tend to have more of this skill than the
average operator. Peters et al (1998) describe the process from real world to simulated game
world as a process of abstraction and reduction. The big question is how far can you abstract
and reduce from reality before operators loose their grip on the simulated reality?
The operational skill training is recently getting more and more addressed in the gaming
literature. Druckman (1994) proved already the need for more fidelity (that could be
translated as detailed realism) when training less abstract skills. Applications for operational
skill training is getting common in the domains of image-based medical procedures (like
laparoscopy, gastrointestinal flexible endoscopy, image-guided neurosurgery, and
endovascular surgery) (Gaba, 2001; Botden et al, 2008; Hamdorf and Hall, 2000), aviation
(Proctor et al, 2007), and safety training for dike inspection (Harteveld, 2011) and the oil and
gas industry (Meijer and Poelman, 2011). Each of these domains finds a solution in 3D-based
computer games that model an environment, either geographical or the organs in a body,
through which the player has to navigate and perform a coherent set of actions. There is an
overlap between the fields of virtual reality, simulation and gaming here.
Involving operators in games for policymaking or for testing hypotheses is almost
undocumented, with some notable exceptions like the work at CIRAD and Cemagref
(Barreteau, 2003). Traditionally the questions in policymaking and the hypotheses tested are
at a higher level of abstraction. In Meijer (2009), the author argued that involving the real
operators in a gaming simulation has the benefit of avoiding models and assumptions about
their behavior, and thus can increase the validity of the behavior of the entire socio-technical
system simulated. This has been proven in the domain of supply chain management
research, studying the organization of transactions.
In our work we focus on the behavior of the people in the daily operations in railway
systems, with a focal point at the train traffic controllers. Within the scope of the
infrastructure management ProRail, their behavior has the most direct influence on the
robustness and resilience of the network. To base decisions upon their behavior in gaming
simulations it is essential to consider the validity of this behavior.
The most common critique for behavior observed in a session is it is only a game...... In the
literal meaning the statement is true. A gaming simulation is a model of reality, and the
roles, rules, objectives and constraints are necessarily different from the real world. The
insinuation of the statement is, however, that behavior observed in a session is unlike
behavior in the real world and is no valid representation of real-world behavior. Peters et al
(1998) discuss the validity of games (gaming simulation) based upon the work of Raser
(1969) who defined validity of models in the following way: A model can be said to be
valid to the extent that investigation of that model provides the same outcomes as would
investigation in the reference system. Raser (1969) suggests four aspects of validity that
apply to gaming simulation:
280
Process validity: To what degree are the processes observed in the gaming simulation
isomorphic to those observed in the reference system?
Predictive validity: To what degree can the gaming simulation produce outcomes of the
historical or future reference system?
The psychological reality demands that sessions are conducted in such a way that participants
are emotionally involved and really play their role. The situation of the session in the life of the
participants, the consequences of participation or non-participation and the location and
atmosphere of a session and its moderation are important factors. This requires craftsmanship
of the game leader that is hard to operationalize in a scientific context. Various authors have
made attempts at determining the quality of conducting sessions. Kriz and Hense (2006) offer
an elaborate and theory-based evaluation methodology, that according to Klabbers (2008) does
a good job in (temporarily) bridging the gap between analytical and design sciences. Kriz and
Henses approach is an adapted version of the theory-based evaluation method by Reynolds
(1998). They distinguish between concept, design and application that can be evaluated.
The psychological reality and process and structural validity of Raser (1969) come together
in the concept of situation awareness (Endsley, 2004) for operators. Operators should get
involved psychologically when they can recognize sufficient components of the processes
and structures they are used to in their real work. In the medical world this has led to
consensus guidelines for validation of virtual reality surgical simulators (Carter et al, 2005),
but in railways this work is only done for train drivers (Hamilton and Clarke, 2005)
When we take the concept of situation awareness as the central concept for considering the
validity of railway operator behavior in gaming simulations, the list of items in the situation
awareness still becomes vast. The modeling issue could include nearly any technical aspect
of the railways, interface and representation items as well as the cognitive state of operators
during their normal workdays. This chapter focuses on three important issues, posed as
how-to questions:
1.
2.
3.
These questions will be answered in the remainder of this chapter. The next section
discusses six projects from which the experiences are gained, then Section 6 translates this
into lessons learned.
281
282
Core aspect
Purpose
Roles
# of players
Own/real/fictitious role
Scenarios
Intervention range
Simulated world
Immersion
Time model
Data presentation
# of sessions
Type of data generated
Consequences
Description
Studying the potential value of various market mechanisms
for better capacity allocation of cargo paths.
Clients with demand for transport, Rail Cargo Transporters,
Passenger Transport, Rail Capacity Planning, Rail Asset
Management
15 25 depending on step
Real role, but selected for knowledge for instance from
previous job position.
3 4 scenarios per session. First scenarios that explored the
more fundamental market mechanisms. Then scenarios to
validate the successful configurations.
Facilitator could start and stop the scenario and dissolve
disputes only on the process steps.
Stylized train path market, stylized transport demand
Fast, once roles were clear and adopted. Lively play including
some conflicts. Capacity planners in second session had issues
getting insight in their track system.
Continuous
Simplified to stylized network, simplified timetable and
simple contracts. Big jump between session 2 and 3 when
replacing capacity planners with computer reservation system
that was similar conceptually.
3 subsequent games each with 1 session during 1 full day.
Quantitative and qualitative, testing hypotheses about
mechanisms that are assumed to have a certain effect on
capacity allocation.
Policy formulated but put out of scope for 2010/2011, possible
application in 2012. Politically very sensitive.
Core aspect
Purpose
Roles
# of players
Own/real/fictitious role
Scenarios
Intervention range
Simulated world
Immersion
Time model
Data presentation
# of sessions
Type of data generated
Consequences
283
Description
Testing and validating a control concept for high frequency
train transport.
Train driver (2), Train traffic controller (3), Network
controller (5)
10 plus 2 facilitators and 2 experts.
Own role, participant selected by their team leaders
3 Scenarios, gradually testing more complexity.
Facilitators could start, stop and pause scenarios and
interfere with train driver behavior.
Detailed infrastructure between Amsterdam and Utrecht,
detailed timetable.
Very fast and deep for train drivers and network controllers.
Difficult for train traffic controllers; see discussion in Meijer
et al (2009).
Continuous
Highly detailed through computer interface. Interface
different from real-world abstraction.
1 full day session
Quantitative (failed) and qualitative.
Data generated in the game yielded insights in key materials
and resources needed for implementation of the control
concept, and high-frequency planning in general.
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though were capable of due to different visualization. Luckily, the debriefing and
discussions still yielded sufficient data of sufficient quality for ProRail to be able to
contribute to the problem solving. For the gaming team, this experience led to the
development of the following game.
5.3 Railway bridge game
The subproject Railway Bridge Game (for a bridge over the river Vecht) introduced ProRail
to the process management game, a computer-based gaming simulation for which new
software was developed. Over the course of one week, various train traffic controllers
played this game in a single-player environment using a series of scenarios. The type of
game was described as a single-player process simulation. Table 3 gives the core description
of this game. More information can be found in Kortmann and Sehic (2010).
Core aspect
Purpose
Roles
# of players
Own/real/fictitious role
Scenarios
Intervention range
Simulated world
Immersion
Time model
Data presentation
# of sessions
Type of data generated
Consequences
Description
Studying a new regime for bridge openings on the busy
Amsterdam Amersfoort corridor.
Train traffic controller. Bridge operator (simulated)
1
Own role.
5, each subsequent day the same train traffic controllers
played one scenario of increasing complexity
Facilitator played other roles
Detailed infrastructure, detailed timetable
Good to very good. More experienced train traffic controllers
had more hesitancy towards the computer system, but once
used to it scored better with more situation awareness.
Continuous
Detailed through near-familiar computer interface.
1 session, full week
Mainly quantitative (measured actions and train throughput,
questionnaires) and qualitative from interviews
None as of 2011, new game with improved interfacing
planned for winter 2012 testing more details.
285
way around, showing the difficulty of experienced people to overcome differences in the
user interface, but as soon as craftsmanship was required to minimize delays the experience
helped keeping control.
Both single-player and multi-player gaming simulation were readily welcomed by almost
all of the stakeholders in the organization as a valuable new resource for ProRail as an
organization. The aspect of the multi-player gaming simulation that prompted a particularly
positive response was the opportunity to test the feasibility of timetables, control concepts
and exceptional situations in a setting that includes several layers of management and/or
control areas. The aspect of the single-player gaming simulation that prompted a
particularly positive response was the opportunity to train and practice in relation to
exceptional situations and future timetables and infrastructures in an offline setting, using
simulated trains.
5.4 ETMET 2010
One of the two strategic innovation trajectories to come to the desired capacity increase is
the program to come to a metro-like timetable on the major corridors. On the Amsterdam
Eindhoven corridor this program is titled Every Ten Minutes A Train (Elke Tien Minuten
Een Trein in Dutch), shortly ETMET. In the fall of 2010, the largest train operator National
Railways (NS) and ProRail tested this concept for a full month in the real operation. This
program required substantial preparation, and gaming simulation was selected through the
senior staff involved in earlier games to answer questions about two ways of handling a
major disruption under the new timetable. This resulted in the ETMET 2010 Game,
described in Table 4.
In the ETMET 2010 Game we simulated the train flow and all processes and interactions in
the train control, personnel and rolling stock processes. The wish was to have the train
traffic controllers working on gaming modules similar to the one in the Railway Bridge
Game. Soon during the development we found out that the underlying rail traffic simulators
available did not support the required actions of turning around, skipping a service or
renumbering rolling stock to different train services. Therefore the decision was made to
create a complete manual, analog simulator, observed with cameras overhead the
infrastructure maps, distributing views similar to the regular computer visualizations to
three rooms with operators.
The session delivered the data required to answer the question on the differences between
two methods of handling a major disruption. The project management assumed the new
method to be beneficial for resilience, however they proved wrong. The new method
essentially provided a pre-defined pattern for guiding trains over a double track where one
track is blocked. The network and service controller had to makes their choices out of the set
of trains currently running on the tracks, approaching the blocked track. Remaining trains
have to be cancelled or coupled. This was assumed to be a better solution than the old
solution in which there is a separate document for every possible interaction between two
trains. It appeared however, that the choices for assigning trains to the pattern were
impossible to make, given the interactions that all the trains available have with other parts
of the system. While working on a solution the situation changed too fast to make a single
decision in time, while overseeing all of the complexity.
286
Core aspect
Purpose
Roles
# of players
Own/real/fictitious role
Scenarios
Intervention range
Simulated world
Immersion
Time model
Data presentation
# of sessions
Type of data generated
Consequences
Description
Testing the differences between two mechanisms of handling
a major disruption under High Frequency Transport
scheduling
Train traffic controllers, Passenger information, Driver
rescheduling, Rolling Stock rescheduling, Platform
coordinator, Decentralized network controller Network
controller, Service controller.
14 in role, 9 in support roles in analog simulator center, 6
observers, 1 host, 1 game leader
Own roles, invited on personal title however with support of
management.
2 scenarios: first the old way and then a new mechanism
Facilitators could start, stop and pause the scenarios.
Detailed infrastructure Utrecht - Geldermalsen, detailed highfrequency timetabling, essentials of communication lines
between different offices involved. Stylized passenger flow.
Full immersion in a few minutes. Conflicts arose, leading to a
time-out by the game leader to settle the issues and go back to
a state all could agree on. Extremely involved and lively game
play.
Continuous
Infrastructure representation in familiar schematics, detailed
timetabling on paper, time and delays through simple
interfaces.
1 session, full day
Quantitative and qualitative, testing hypotheses about
differences between 2 mechanisms.
Proposed solution abandoned based on data generated in the
gaming session.
287
that the risk of flooding and even completely crashing the traffic flow is high. Resilience and
robustness of the Dutch rail network therefore has to consider Utrecht as a key parameter.
In previous years the timetable has been disentangled, meaning that trains are assigned to
a corridor and that these corridors are planned to have as little interference with each other
on the physical infrastructure as possible. Now, after ProRail disentangled the schedule the
aim is to reduce the interference further by matching the control concept to the corridors.
For this the NAU (New Action plan Utrecht) program was launched.
Within the NAU program five goals have been identified:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Gaming simulation has been selected as a tool to try out the concept first in a simulated
environment before it will be brought to the control post. During the game the effect of the
new concept on goals 1,4 and 5 had to be researched. Table 5 describes the game details.
The main result of the NAU game was empirically based insight in the fundamental
consequences of reducing the number of switches used and corridor control on capacity,
resilience and robustness. In the old situation, the capacity reduces rapidly as the
disturbance level increases. Due to the many switches, many options remain in heavily
disturbed situations to continue driving, requiring a mastery level of the train controller.
These options cause infection of problems of one corridor to others. When using corridor
control in its strict sense, the process remains more manageable with mild to moderate
disturbances. But because the control options are limited to the corridors, there comes a
moment in the corridor that all capacity is lost, still not affecting the other corridors. There's
a tipping point where the limits for a disturbed corridor become unacceptably high. At this
tipping point it can help to deviate from the corridor principle. The ideal situation is to
control & isolate the corridor as long as possible and use other parts of the infrastructure
only when the critical level of disturbance is reached. In other words: you want to cash the
potential of corridor control and avoid potential losses. Where the disturbance level is
critical, how often this situation occurs and what specific deviations must be allowed, is still
open for further research.
In the NAU game modeling we re-used the infrastructure schematic layout and timetabling
information that was so successful in the ETMET game. Yet again this proved to immerse the
participants in the simulation within a few minutes, and to make them enact their role
perfectly. In this post-game evaluation the participants rated their behavior as highly realistic.
The only exceptions to this were the network and service controller who both work at the
national level. For them there was no game material to play with apart from information
derived from the simulated area. This resulted in less emersion and a bit grumpy atmosphere
in which they were mocking about the new concept. For the project this proved functional as
their comments in the discussion raised important points for the improvement of the concept,
but the game play from them was not optimal. Therefore no direct conclusions could be drawn
from the interaction between the national and regional level.
288
Core aspect
Description
Purpose
Roles
# of players
Own/real/fictitious role
Scenarios
Intervention range
Simulated world
Immersion
Instant and very good for all players, except for network
controller and service controller who were less immersed,
showing in discussions about other topics.
Time model
Continuous
Data presentation
# of sessions
Consequences
Core aspect
Purpose
Roles
# of players
Own/real/fictitious role
Scenarios
Intervention range
Simulated world
Immersion
Time model
Data presentation
# of sessions
Type of data generated
Consequences
289
Description
Answering the question how many pieces of rolling stock
could be parked along the platforms of stations during the
night, given the processes of cleaning and maintenance that
have to be performed at service areas. Question asked for
two locations: Amsterdam-Watergraafsmeer and Hoofddorp.
Train traffic controller (2), Foreman of cleaning (2), Train
driver, Service area supervisor.
6 in role, 2 support for illiterate cleaning foreman, 3
observers, 1 host, 1 game leader
Own roles, invited on personal title however with support of
management.
1 scenario per location (Plus 30 minutes warm up scenario)
Facilitators could start the simulation and determine the time
required for each 5 minutes of simulated time.
Detailed infrastructure Amsterdam Central Amsterdam
Watergraafsmeer and Hoofddorp, detailed timetabling for
end-of service of trains. Detailed service demand,
Immediate for train traffic controllers and service area
supervisor. Foremen took some time, being illiterate and not
used to any abstraction, but came in role in 15 minutes.
Step-wise.
Infrastructure representation in familiar schematics, detailed
timetabling on paper, time through simple interface, cleaning
capacity in simple game objects.
1 session, full day
Quantitative and qualitative, delivering a range of rolling
stock feasible to park
Potential yield for Amsterdam-Watergraafsmeer too
unsecure given additional complexity of extra night
maintenance in the years 2012 2013. Solution considered for
2014. For Hoofddorp the yield found in the game was
verified in the field and implemented for 2012.
290
In this game the modeling of infrastructure and information followed the infrastructure
schematic layout and timetabling information that was previously successful in the ETMET
and NAU games. The time was for the first time not continuous but step-based. The reason
for this was the long time to simulate (6 hours) during which many moments are trivial, as
trains stand still and some cleaning is done. As no more game time than 2 hours per
scenario was available, a speed-up was required, but just faster time would not contribute to
the game as some time periods need more attention than others. The solution was found in
5-minute time steps in the game time that could take anywhere between 30 seconds to 20
minutes to execute in clock-time. In this way the players (most of them operational
practitioners, two of them near illiterate) could keep up with the more abstract
representation of their real work. The two foremen of the cleaning teams had most issues
getting involved. Their whole task consisted out of taking 1 toothpick out of a wagon once it
was cleaned, and they could each take out one stick per 5-minute step. Once they got used
to this task they could make choices for priority over the service area easily and got their
behavior realistic according to both their own and others judgments.
6. Methodological challenges
In this section the lessons learned on methodological challenges are discussed on two levels.
The first subsection answers the three modeling issues raised in Section 4. The second
subsection discusses how to guarantee validity in gaming simulations for railways.
6.1 Modeling issues
In the six projects, the modeling issues appeared to have a large interaction. The question
how to immerse train traffic controllers in a gaming simulation appears to be largely
dependent on the display of information. For train traffic controllers we learned that a
detailed representation of the infrastructure is key for their involvement. However, the
geographical representation did not work, where the common abstracted versions as used in
practice performed flawlessly, both in digital (RBG) and in analog game board format
(ETMET, NAU, POP). More abstraction and reduction of complexity of the infrastructure
does not work for operators (RCM). For the timetabling and similar information like
personnel and rolling stock planning similar mechanisms worked: give the players the
information on a detailed level but keep the format they are used to in practice, even tough
the medium (computer or paper) is different. The same held true for delays and other
process information. Once the delays are presented directly after a train number in the
format of +3, +5, + 10 minutes everybody understood it immediately. Once the players
could understand the information well they could concentrate on their task, which they
automatically did fully immersed.
Regarding the question how to model time we learned that the logical model of continuous
time for rail operations works well and puts pressure on the process. In the ETMET game
the frustrations over problems under time pressure became so high that the game leader had
to intervene, and other games showed real pressure on the players who are so aware of the
real-time nature of their real-world process that this can be triggered immediately in the
game. Care should be taken to give players sufficient situational awareness without all their
real tools available. Based on the experiences with the Railway Bridge Game versus the
291
analog games to expect that continuous time will improve on stress and pressure level when
computer models are more easily deployable and integrated in the games. Analog
simulators are surprisingly good but require extensive and thus expensive expert support.
6.2 Validation
The sessions usually run only once. Drawing conclusions on just one session puts emphasis
on the validity of the behavior observed and decisions made in the simulation. The number
of people to validate a full game with is limited in terms of availability (they work in de
24/7 operation) and costs, validation approaches need to be done differently. By
modularizing the toolkit of gaming into sub-models and software components, validation of
the components can be done outside of the final game sessions in analogy with the recent
insights in multi-agent simulation of social systems (Gilbert, 2011). Work on the validation
requires deeper understanding of train traffic control and train driver behavior. This
encompasses the knowledge base in the organization. Work on this gives methodological
challenges that go beyond the literature on gaming methodology (Peters et al, 1998).
In the railway gaming simulation described above (but for the RCG) processes of selfvalidation were used to overcome the validation issue for now. During every session signs
of discomfort of the players and comments on how real something was were constantly
monitored and discussed openly even if this led to time-outs or moments of difficult
discussion during the game play. The game leader always stated that everything to make
the session better would be welcome at any time. In the debriefing the explicit questions
were asked: which part is realistic and which part would be different in the real world, and
why? This gave often very valuable information, even when in case of the NAU game when
the network and service controller were not very involved in the game play, but could
comment and criticize the validity very well.
By ensuring immersive game play and having the self-validation during the games the
Raser categories of psychological reality and process validity are addressed to an extent that
is satisfying for the organization. The structural validity is a design issue and is difficult to
improve when using analog simulators. You simply cannot model the exact train flow and
safety and interlocking systems in an analog way. Computer simulators have a lot to offer
here in interaction with the players during a game session. This is future work for
integration. The predictive validity is currently under review as the project follows all game
projects longitudinally to determine the extent to which the conclusions based upon game
sessions hold true in the real operation. Future work will report on outcomes.
7. Conclusions
The series of six projects shows the purpose and usefulness of building gaming simulations
to help the Dutch railway infrastructure manager ProRail innovate on its core processes.
Over the projects methodological lessons on involving operators as game participants have
been drawn, as well as for the abstraction and reduction of information and the modeling of
time. These modeling challenges appear to be highly interrelated. The lessons learned show
the need, contrary to the traditional modeling approaches in gaming simulation, for very
little abstraction and reduction in modeling the game where it concerns items that the
operators have to play with. The model for less operational aspects can be more abstract, in
292
line with literature on the need for fidelity for learning in games. While this finding may be
not surprising to experienced game developers, the value of using abstractions that are used
in the real world for the game is new.
As the game projects reported in this chapter are not for learning but for testing of designs
and hypotheses, the findings on how to make real operators show valid behavior in a game
session contributes to the small but growing field of gaming simulation for testing. For the
categories psychological reality and process validity the current approach has found ways to
address given the limited time and capacity available for traditional validation. For
structural validity and predictive validity future work is defined.
The sequence of gaming simulations led to a successful introduction in the ProRail organization
of the gaming method. Full support has led to a four-year partnership between academics and
the operation to make gaming suited for ProRail and ProRail suited for gaming. Once this
project has been carried out, ProRail will have at its disposal a gaming suite that connects with
existing rail traffic simulators. The gaming suite will make it possible to configure a game
simulation session without the need to call in outside expertise by selecting timetables,
locations, actors, duration and measurement variables. The key feature is the possibility to
create what-if scenarios. The outcomes of these scenarios support the decision-making process
by providing an understanding of the problems and the pros and cons of the possible solutions.
8. Acknowledgements
This research has been funded by ProRail and the Next Generation Infrastructure
Foundation (NGI). Special thanks go out to the team members both on the side of ProRail
(Jelle van Luipen, Emdzad Sehic, the steering committee, amongst many others) and the side
of TU Delft (Rens Kortmann, Igor Mayer, Alexander Verbraeck, Bas van Nuland, Gert Jan
Stolk and the Game Lab a.o.). Research like this is teamwork.
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12
Application of 3D Simulation Methods to the
Process of Induction Heating of Rail Turnouts
Elbieta Szychta, Leszek Szychta, Mirosaw Luft and Kamil Kiraga
gas heating,
water heating, used in smaller rail facilities, mainly in Germany. The first systems of
this type in Poland were installed at Boguszw station,
geothermal heating,
1Kiraga K., Szychta E., Andrulonis J. (2010). Wybrane metody ogrzewania rozjazdw kolejowych
artyku przegldowy
2Brodowski D., Andrulonis J. (2002). Ogrzewanie rozjazdw kolejowych, Problemy kolejnictwa
296
electric heating by means of resistance heaters (most often supplied with 3400 [V]
systems, 230 [V] power supply, or with 15 [kV] 16 2 [Hz] traction networks via
3
voltage-reducing transformers).
Gas heating is used in extremely hard weather conditions (heavy snowfall and low
temperatures of down to 30C) on Austrian, Norwegian and Swiss railroads (the Alpine
region) or in the Netherlands, where the weather is mild but very damp. Gas systems of
turnout heating are characterised by high thermal efficiency. Gas burners reach power of up
to 1000 [W/running metre of a rail]. Liquid mixtures of propane and butane or butane alone
are most often employed as fuel. The gases display varied pressure depending on
temperatures of condensed gas. The pressure reduces as the temperatures diminish.
Mixtures of propane and butane are utilised where ambient temperatures are above 17C,
replaced with butane itself below that temperature. Gas turnout heating is diagrammatically
presented in Figure 1.
297
Water heating is another way of heating rail turnouts. An oil unit heats the working fluid, a
mixture of water and anti-freeze agents. The heated fluid is supplied to pipe heat exchanges
(heaters) which are fitted along a rail and turnout saddles. The fluid yields its heat and
returns to the unit, cooled, to be re-heated. In a water heating system, the energy contained
in the fuel (heating oil) is converted into heating power in the heating unit placed in the
immediate vicinity of turnouts (normally in a building nearest to a signal cabin, which can
itself be heated by the unit as well)3.
Design of a MAS water heating system comprises the following elements4:
a heating station including a heating unit, fuel tank, and a control system,
220V~/12V= (or 24V =) power supply to the heating unit, 12V (24V) battery as a reserve
power source for the unit, and plumbing (surge tanks, pumps, pipes, cut-off valves),
heating elements, i.e. heat exchangers inside a turnout,
installation feeding the operating fluid from the heating station to turnouts.
Fig. 2. Single-flow MAS water heating of a short turnout: 1 return to unit, 2 12mm steel
pipe (heater), 3 a heater located near a rail edge and sliding chair,
4 heating of a setting lock, 5 support heater, 6 - input
Geothermal systems are the third method of turnout heating discussed here. Geothermal
heating, which uses the natural underground heat, is a new alternative to the systems presented
above. A heat pump is its core element. Depending on the season and depth, soil temperatures
may range from 4 to 8C. At more than 15m below the ground level, season-related thermal
motions cease and the temperature is constantly around 8-10C. Still deeper, the soil is
regenerated by flowing underground waters, heat from the earths core and from above.
3
4
298
Heat pumps operate like fridges which take advantage of the hot, not the cold section of the
heat cycle. An appropriate working agent is compressed and decompressed producing a
desired heating or cooling effect. To generate useful heat, for instance, soil or underground
water heat (at low temperatures of approx. 10C) is employed to evaporate the operating
agent (harmless gas R497C) that boils at a low temperature. Thus, the originally liquid
working agent leaves an evaporator (heat exchanger on the side of ground collector) as gas.
The gas is then compressed and condensated in a liquefier (heat exchanger on the side of
heating installation) at high temperatures (50-60C), yielding the condensation and
compression heat to the water contained in the heating installation. The still pressurised
working agent is subsequently decompressed in a valve and enters the low-pressure section,
thereby initiating the cycle once again.
A complete system of geothermal turnout heating is illustrated in Figure 3.
Fig. 3. Design of a geothermal turnout heating system including: 1 a local control and
monitoring system, 2 an automatic control system containing an automatic weather unit, 3
heat pump and heat cycle, 4 snowfall and ambient temperature sensor, 5 humidity and
rail temperature sensors, 6 junction box, 7 heat exchangers (heaters) with heatconducting insulation
299
Electric heating is the final method of turnout heating to be discussed here. The electric
heating currently prevails in Poland among the equipment used to melt snow and ice on rail
turnouts. It functions on more than 18 000 turnouts. Its combined installed power reaches
approximately 110 [MW]5. The electric systems heat for an average of 300 hrs in a season.
Providing 330W per running metre of rail assures effective warming of railroad turnouts
during the heating season. The electric heating employing 330W/m heaters provides for
good functioning of railroad turnouts under normal weather conditions (i.e. temperatures
above -20C) and with average (other than catastrophic) snowfall. A diagram of electric
turnout heating is shown in Figure 4.
300
Fig. 5. Situation of insulations on the internal and external sides of a rail and on rail foot for
every rail type
Such a solution is offered to PKP (Polish State Railroads) by Heat Point of the Netherlands,
Research and testing will demonstrate potential advantages and drawbacks of this solution.
A 2800 [VA] transformer was employed to supply power to each type of heaters. Given the
mains frequency of 50 [Hz], the heating wires vibrated and produced human-audible
acoustic waves whose frequency was twice greater than the frequency of the supplied
voltage.
The inductive nature of power distribution system loading by ior equipment of the time
required an additional capacitor to set off the reactive power and to improve the power
factor cos from approx. 0.5 to 0.85 0.9. Capacitors capable of adjusting reactive power of 4
[kVA] or more were employed in a single given turnout. Work on the system and its
application was abandoned due to insufficient technological resources at the time
(1978/1979). The material on testing of inductive turnout heating discussed here is the only,
scarce material still extant in the archives of the then COBiRTK (Centre for Rail Engineering
Research and Development), currently named IK (Rail Engineering Institute).
These authors have decided to revive the idea of induction turnout heating and to use it, as
part of a greater operating frequency system, to heat rail turnouts. A flow diagram of
induction turnout heating as proposed by the authors is shown in Figure 6.
7
301
302
symbols of rail materials are based on rolling surface hardness, in Brinell degrees, with the
added symbol of an element used to refine the rail steel or in reinforcement heat treatment.
Table 1 also includes references to previously used steel grades, of chemical compositions
similar to the new steels recommended by the EU in accordance with EN 13674-1:2003 (E).
Two steel grades most commonly used in Poland are R260 (hardness range 260300 HB) and
R350HT (hardness range 350390 HB, heat treated head).
Steel marking
R200
R220
R260
R260Mn
R320Cr
R350HT
R350LHT
Description
Material number
Carbon-manganese
1.0521
Carbon-manganese
1.0524
Carbon-manganese
1.0623
Carbon-manganese
1.0624
Low alloy
1.0915
Heat treated carbon-manganese
1.0631
Heat treated low alloy
1.0632
Previous marking
R0700
R0800
R0900; St90PA
R0900Mn; St90PB
R1100Cr
R1200
303
304
Determining key electric and magnetic parameters of construction materials for railroad
turnouts was essential in designing a system of induction heating and employed a variety of
testing methods. Electric and magnetic parameters were determined by means of the
following methods:
four-point linear probe method to determine electric resistivity (taken into consideration as
rotary currents arise when the magnetic field penetrates the internal structure of a rail).
Ix
U Rw
Rw
(1)
With known geometric dimensions of the sample, that is, its height a and width b, electric
resistivity can be determined on the basis of:
Ux S
S
Rmierz
Ix l
l
(2)
305
where:
Ux voltage drop across the sample,
Ix measurement current,
S cross-section of the sample,
l distance between the measurement probes.
2.6210-7
2.8510-7
Rail foot
2.7510-7
2.5710-7
2.710-7
Rail head
2.5810-7
HP bridge: active and passive magnetic hardness as well as the loss tangent are
determined. Initial magnetic hardness can also be defined since the intensity of the
magnetic field is low.
Hewlett Packard 4284A 20Hz 1MHz Precision LCR Meter helps to conduct measurements
in order to determine relative magnetic permeability of selected rail sections.
A connection link is replaced with a measurement coil of known length l and number of
coils z. A sample is placed inside the coil. The bridge circuit is supplied with AC. A
millivoltimetre of very high internal resistance is connected in parallel to the coils with the
sample inside. It can measure the voltage drop across this element and, consequently, select
the magnetising field as appropriate. The device also provides for de-magnetising of
samples using a 50Hz field whose amplitude reduces towards zero, for regulation and
stabilisation of temperature.
The system used to determine relative magnetic permeability of the tested rail sections
consisted of:
306
cz ib
(3)
cz
Lx L0 l 1
0 z 2 Sp
(4)
here:
Lx inductivity of the coil containing the sample,
L0 inductivity of an empty coil,
0 magnetic permeability of the vacuum 0 = 410-7H/m,
Sp cross-sectional surface area of the tested sample,
z number of coils,
l length of the coil.
As cz >> 1, 1 is ignored in the calculations.
The passive magnetic permeability is computed:
Rrdz l
0 Z 2 f Sp
2
(5)
307
(6)
where:
R0 resistance of an empty coil,
R resistance of the coil containing the sample.
Substituting (6) to (5) produces the following equation of passive magnetic permeability:
Rrdz l
0Z 2 2 fS
( R Ro ) l
0Z 2 2 fS
(7)
Measuring voltage drop across the resistance R helps to determine intensity of the electric
current across the winding and then the intensity of the magnetic field at which magnetic
permeability is measured using the dependence:
H
Z U
lR
(8)
where:
z number of coils,
U voltage drop across the resistor R,
l length of the measurement coil.
Figure 11 illustrates the initial magnetic permeability initial=f(f) of a sample from the rail
web edge (red) and initial = f (f) of a sample from the rails head (black) as well from the
rails core (the green curve).
Fig. 11. Magnetic permeability inital=f(f) for a sample from the edge of rail web and inital = f
(f) for the remaining samples.
308
Prime magnetising curves were determined by means of the measurement system shown in
Figure 12.
Fig. 12. Measurement system employing the fluxmetre and its components
The tested sample is placed inside the coil in magnetising and measurement winding.
A fluxmetre to measure magnetic flow variations in the tested material sample is the
element of the measurement system. Variations in the tested material sample result from
commutations of the current across the magnetising winding zm. The electric current pulse
induced in the measurement winding over time dt is measured by the fluxmetre. The
magnetic flow variations d generate an electromotor force which can be expressed:
dc
d
zp
dt
dt
(9)
d
2 zpS
(10)
where S is the cross-sectional surface area of the tested sample. The sample is demagnetised
prior to each measurement by means of the system.
A prime magnetising curve for a sample from the rail web and maximum magnetic
permeability in respect of the same sample determined using the fluxmetre are shown in
Figure 13.
14
15
309
Fig. 13. Curves B = f(H) and = f(H) for a sample of the rail web
Intensity of the coercion field of magnetically soft and hard materials can be measured by
means of a coercion metre. The relevant measurement diagram is presented in Figure 14.
Fig. 14. Measurement diagram using a coercion metre and its components
Magnetic coercion16 (also referred to as coercive force) is the value of an external magnetic field
that must be applied to a material (e.g. a ferromagnetic material) to bring the magnetic residue
down to zero. The magnetic residue (also remanence or residual magnetisation) is the magnetic
induction remaining after an external magnetic field magnetising a given material is removed.
16Kuryowicz
310
Rail foot
Rail head
Sample number
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
Hc [A/m]
820
820
828
772
776
772
772
772
788
876
884
1003
884
860
860
804
796
812
860
820
908
Mean Hc [A/m]
823
774
778
912
830
850
A Physical Property Measurement System (PPMS) by Quantum Design (San Diego, USA) is
a unique, state-of-the-art concept of a laboratory facility.
The PPMS platform comprises the following elements:
311
Fig. 15. Physical Property Measurement System to test magnetic properties of rail samples
A magnetometer suction cup with the vibrating sample was employed to plot prime
magnetising curves and to determine saturation of the tested rail samples.
A sample is positioned on a non-magnetic, mobile bar and vibrates vertically at a set
frequency. The samples oscillations generate (induce) a variable voltage signal in the
measurement coil system under impact of the magnetic field. The signal is proportional to
the magnetic moment of the sample and to parameters characterising its motion, i.e. to the
amplitude and vibration frequency. It can be described as follows:
Vcewki
d
d dz
C m A sin t
dt
dz dt
where:
C proportionality constant,
m a known moment of the sample,
A vibration (oscillation)amplitude,
frequency.
(11)
312
Fig. 17. Magnetising curve J = f(H) and magnetic saturation Js for rail head samples
313
ACMS determines combined magnetic susceptibility, including its real and imaginary
components, the loss tangent for varied intensities of the magnetic field and for
different temperatures.
314
Table 4 summarises loss factors on eddy currents and magnetic hysteresis for samples
collected in key rail locations determined at varied temperatures by means of ACMS platform.
Source of the
sample
Edge of rail
web
Centre of rail
web
Rail foot
Taper of rail
foot
Taper of rail
web
Rail head
Temperature
[C]
0 [C]
2.49
2.31
25 [C]
2.33
2.62
-25 [C]
2.7
2.44
0 [C]
2.53
2.42
25 [C]
2.33
2.8
-25 [C]
2.72
2.78
0 [C]
2.31
1.42
25 [C]
2.13
1.45
-25 [C]
2.49
1.63
0 [C]
2.39
1.94
25 [C]
2.2
1.97
-25 [C]
2.6
1.77
0 [C]
1.83
1.55
25 [C]
1.69
1.76
-25 [C]
2.56
1.83
0 [C]
2.62
2.49
25 [C]
2.42
2.4
-25 [C]
2.83
2.68
315
H J
D
t
(12)
B
t
(13)
B 0
(14)
(15)
H dl J dS t D dS
l
(16)
E dl t B dS
(17)
B dS 0
(18)
D dS dV
(19)
(20)
D D(E)
(21)
The vector quantities present in Maxwells equations meet the following dependencies at
environment boundaries:
n (J J ) 0
(22)
n ( B1 B2 ) 0
(23)
n (H 1 H 2 ) J
(24)
n (D1 D2 ) S
(25)
n (E1 E2 ) 0
(26)
In the case of numerical electromagnetic field calculations for low frequencies, Maxwells
equations are solved indirectly with the aid of a couple of potentials and boundary
conditions. Where the potentials are given, the field vectors E, D, H, B, J can be
determined.
316
In the literature describe the vector of magnetic field intensity using a scalar potential
function , expressed as:
H
(27)
When the material formula B H H and the condition of source-free magnetic field are
taken into account, a differential equation of total magnetic scalar potential results:
0
(28)
Where conduction currents appear, the vector of magnetic field intensity H includes two
components:
H Hs Hm
(29)
J 1r
4 r 2
dV
(30)
where: r is the distance from the observation point O=(x, y, z) where Hs is calculated to the
source point Z=(x, y, z). 1r is a unit vector oriented from Z to O.
In addition, Hs in the area V fulfils the condition:
Hs J
(31)
317
(32)
(33)
J 1r
1
B
dV
B
4 r 2
(34)
H s
(35)
(36)
(37)
In current-free areas, the resultant vector of magnetic field intensity H can only be described
by means of the total magnetic potential.
H c
(38)
Low accuracy of determining the magnetic field in the area of magnetic materials is the
fundamental drawback of the reduced scalar potential method. This results from the fact
that components of the magnetic field intensity vector Hs and Hm have similar values but
opposite orientations. In effect, the resultant vector of intensity H reduces.
Where magnetic permeability is high, great errors arise. To avoid the error in effect of the
diminishing resultant vector of magnetic field intensity in numerical calculations, the area is
divided into a sub-area V of permeability 0 including current sources and a sub-area V
which includes the remaining area under consideration. Field distribution across V is
described by global scalar magnetic potential whereas V is described by reduced scalar
magnetic potential. To obtain a unique solution to (37) and (38), conditions present on
boundaries of the different sub-areas described with the different types of scalar magnetic
potential must be defined. This relates to the need to provide continuity of the normal
component of magnetic induction vector and the tangential component of the magnetic field
intensity vector on the boundary of V and V, which can be expressed:
H st
t
s t
s
(39)
318
where:
x11
x21
x12
x13
x14
x22
x23
x24
x31 1
x32 2
x33 3
x34 4
(40)
where: e element number, x1, x2, x3 coordinates of a point inside the element,
1 , 2 , 3 , 4 - constants of an approximating function.
Solving this equation produces field values in the individual nodes. Figure 21 shows the
most common discretisation shapes applied to 3D problems as part of FEM.
(a)
(b)
319
Triangular three-node elements are most often used to discretise 2D areas. A sample
division of of boundary into triangular elements is illustrated in Figure 22.
(e) 1 2 x 3 y
(41)
i( e ) 1 2 xi 3 y i
( e)
j 1 2 x j 3 y j
(e)
k 1 2 xk 3 y k
(42)
The system will solve for factors 1, 2, 3. Substituting them in (41) produces:
(e)
( a1 b1x c1 y )i ( a j b j x c j y ) j ( ak bk x c k y ) k
2
(43)
where:
ai x j y k xk y j , bi y j y k , ci x k x j
1 xi
2 1 x j
yi
yj
1 xk
yk
(44)
(45)
320
The remaining factors are obtained by cyclical shifting of the indices i, j, k. (43) can be
expressed as a matrix:
( e) [Ni
Nj
i
N k ] j N
k
(46)
where:
Ni , j ,k
ai , j , k bi , j , k x ci , j , k y
2
(47)
Ni, Nj, Nk are functions of variables x and y, referred to as shape or base functions while N is a
shape function matrix. (46) describes the value of (e) above the surface of a single element (e)
(three values of (e) for nodes i, j and k). Solving with the aid of the finite element method
consists in finding values of in respect of all the nodes of .
1
2
:
r
(48)
where r is the number of discretisation network nodes. To this end, the functional J() is
minimised in relation to :
J
1
J
J
2 0
:
J
r
(49)
The energetic functional with regard to the fields described by Laplace equation including
Dirichlets or Neumans boundary conditions becomes:
J ( )
[ kx ( )2 ky ( )2 ]dxdy dl
x
2
(50)
where kx and ky are the material constants in the direction of x and y (e.g. magnetic or
electric permeability) while l is the length of the arc along the boundary . The principle of
summing all elements of applied to the functional, therefore (49) can be formulated:
s
J ( e )
J
i 0
i 1
(51)
321
where s is the number of all elements in the calculation area. Differentiating (50) with
respect to the sought (x,y) results in:
.
J ( e )
[ kx
( ) ky
( )]dxdy .
m ( e )
x m x
y m y
(52)
for values i, j and k of m. Taking (43) and (47) into consideration, the differential expressions
in (52) can be found:
N i
x x
N i
y y
( x )
m
( y )
m
N j
x
N j
y
i
N k
j
x
k
i
N k
j
y
k
(53)
N m
x
N m
y
( e) ( e)
J
J ( e )
j ji
( e)
( e ) hki
J
( e)
hij
( e)
h jj
h
( e)
kj
( e)
h
ik
i
( e)
( e) ( e)
h
h
jk j
( e )
h k
kk
(54)
where:
N i N j
N i N j
h pq [ kx
ky
]dxdy
x x
y y
( e)
(55)
for values i, j, k of p and q. The matrix h(e) in (53) is called element rigidity matrix (the upper
index (e) is a reference to an element) and specifies material properties. On appropriate
transformations of (44), (45), and (48), the following can be said in respect of a triangular
element:
322
k bb k c c
x i i
y i i
( e)
h kx b j bi ky c jci
kx bk bi ky c k ci
kx bi b j ky cic j
kx b j b j k y c j c j
k x bk b j k y c k c j
kx bi bk ky cic k
1
.
k x b j bk k y c j c k
4
k x bk bk k y c k c k
(56)
(51) describes a differential of functional J with respect to the variable (x,y) sought for (e).
When components of (54) in s elements are summed according to:
s
H ij hij
k1
(57)
H 0
(58)
H in (58) is known as a condition or rigidity matrix. This is a band square matrix of the
dimension r and a band width lower than the matrixs dimension.
To introduce the node variables defined by means of Dirichlets boundary conditions to (58), the
equations describing nodes of known can be eliminated. This procedure can be troublesome,
however, when computer calculation algorithms are created as it requires appropriate lines and
columns to be removed from the rigidity matrix. Another method of introducing Dirichlets
conditions has been proposed by Payne and Irons. Elements of H diagonals relating to a specific
boundary node must be multiplied by a great number (e.g. 1015) and the resultant product must
be entered in an appropriate position of the zero vector which forms the right-handed side of
(58). This procedure is widely used as it is easy to programme and does not require many
operations, thereby minimising the time and cost of the calculations.
To find an approximate solution to a problem using FEM, the objective function needs to be
defined, most often as a minimum error of the solution, Galerkins method is of use in
solving non-linear problems. The best solution for an area V delimited with certain
boundary conditions is zeroing of the weighted average residuum R , where is the
precise solution and an approximate solution. A general solution according to Galerkins
method can be presented as:
wi RdV 0
i 1, 2, 3,..., m
(59)
x x y y z z
f x , y , z V
(60)
323
The need to analyse complex physical models requires application of numerical methods
that provide approximate results. Such results are subject to errors, however, due to a range
of factors, such as:
In the literature17 18 have discussed errors at the stage of problem solving (a central element
of numerical calculations). These errors depend on the calculation method and are sources
of distortions that may lead to misrepresentations of phenomena. Sources of errors as part of
FEM include:
interpolation errors;
approximation errors generated when solutions are sought within a limited area;
errors relating to discontinuity of an environments physical parameters;
errors in representations of structure (geometry);
errors relating to rounding of node values.
A local error in a point of a model generated by FEM is inherently connected to the size of
its elements surrounding a given point whereas it is only loosely related to average size of
17Leniewska E. (1997). Zastosowanie symulacji pl elektromagnetycznych w projektowaniu
przekadnikw
18Wincenciak S. (1998). Metody i algorytmy optymalizacji ksztatu obiektw w polu
elektromagnetycznym
324
elements in a space under consideration19 20. The latter type of errors are more significant
and more difficult to eliminate in non-linear problems.
In the literature21 22 23 24 25 have presented various examples of applying FEM to magnetic
field calculations, explained problems of discretising models, and discussed detailed
requirements of shape functions.
Fig. 23. Division of a rail into areas of varying magnetic properties, associated with
appropriate characteristics (prime magnetising curves)
Fig. 24. Process of defining new materials and their magnetic properties
325
326
327
Fig. 27. A view of calculation grid executed in Flux 3D for rail web edges (pink) and rail
centre (blue).
328
The following assumptions underlie simulatiton testing of a rail at the time of induction
heating in FLUX 3D software26 27:
The sample results were obtained in the simulation process at 650H frequency and 11.14
MA/mm2 density of the current across the wire. Set ranges of frequency and rms values of
the current across the wire can be varied as part of this model.
Figure 29 presents a sample distribution of the absolute values of magnetic induction as
obtained in the simulation process.
Fig. 29. Distribution of magnetic induction in the rail and its environment
Magnetic induction on the lateral web surface and on its foot reached a maximum of 0.037 T.
This low value is due to the fact that an air gap appeared between the rail and the heating
wire, impeding and dispersing the magnetic field. The wire itself was circular and its entire
surface did not adhere to the rail, therefore magnetic field penetration into the rail was not
effective.
Figure 30 shows the direction of magnetic field lines with regard to a rail placed inside the
magnetic field of the heating wire.
26
27
329
Fig. 30. Direction of magnetic field lines generated by the heating wire
This is the first model of induction heating of a rail forming part of a turnout to be
developed by these authors. It was designed to demonstrate what phenomena occur
when the rail is under the impact of a magnetic field. The rail and the wire do not form a
full, closed magnetic loop. The magnetic field around the wire partly escapes into the air.
As a result, penetration of the magnetic field into the rail structure is weaker and the
magnetic induction on the rail surface is low. This weakened magnetic field may be
insufficient to produce high eddy current densities in the rail and, in effect, it will be
impossible to use induction heating for turnouts. Greater intensity of the magnetic field
may improve the value of induction yet power losses associated with dispersion effects
would increase.
Intensity of the magnetic field generated by the current across the coil is shown in Figure
31.
330
Fig. 31. Intensity of the magnetic field generated by the current across the heating wire
It is easy to read the value of magnetic field intensity arising from the heating wire: it
approaches 11000A/m in the centre of the wire and reduces to 3000A/m at the contact of
the rail and the wire after covering a distance of circa 1 centimetre (drag).
The air gap must be fully eliminated in continuing research and, should it prove impossible,
the gap needs to be minimised in order to reduce magnetic field dispersion as much as
practicable.
7. Conclusion
This chapter has presented elementary knowledge concerning 3D model illustrations of
induction heating as applied to rail turnouts. It should be borne in mind, however, that a
simulation model can differ widely from reality due, for instance, to simplifications
discussed by the authors. The magnetic model itself must be modified in order to solve the
issue of the air gap, for example.
It is also necessary to verify simulation results against those obtained in an actual model of
turnout induction heating. Work on developing an actual model is in progress.
At the present stage, the magnetic model developed by the authors in Flux3D provides for
observation of electric and magnetic effects in the rails internal structure triggered by flow
of eddy currents. The model will be utilised to determine the depth of magnetic field
penetration into the rail structure as dependent on variations of magnetising current
frequency and will serve to determine a temperature distribution along the rail in the
process of heating. Knowledge of this temperature distribution or, to be more exact, of
maximum temperature values attained by the individual rail sections is the key to success of
this research.
331
8. References
Badania eksploatacyjne wodnego system ogrzewania rozjazdw typu MAS-Guben, CNTK
Warszawa, Stycze 2004
Binns K.J., Lawrenson P.J., Trowbridge C.W. (1995). The Analytical and Numercial Solution of
Electric and Magnetic Fields, A Wiley-Interscience Publication, John Wiley & Sons,
INC., New York
Bolkowski S., Stabrowski M., Skoczylas J., Sroka J., Sikora J., Wincenciak S. (1993).
Komputerowe metody analizy pola elektromagnetycznego, Wydawnictwo Naukowo
Techniczne, Warszawa
Brodowski D., Andrulonis J.(2000). Efektywno ogrzewania rozjazdw kolejowych, CNTK,
Warszawa
Brodowski D., Andrulonis J. (2002). Ogrzewanie rozjazdw kolejowych, Problemy kolejnictwa,
zeszyt 135, CNTK
Femm, Users Manual, 2009
Flux3d, Users guide, vol. 1-4, 2009
Gawrylczyk K.M. (2007). Analiza wraliwociowa pola elektromagnetycznego z uyciem metody
elementw skoczonych, Instytut Naukowo-Badawczy ZTUREK, Warszawa
Gignoux D., Schlenker M.(2005). Magnetism Fundamentals, Springer, Grenoble
Gozdecki T., Hering M., obodziski W. (1979). Urzdzenia elektroniczne. Elektroniczne
urzdzenia grzejne, Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne, Warszawa
Grobelny M. (2009) Budowa, modernizacja, naprawa i remonty nawierzchni kolejowej urzdzenia
i elementy, RYNEK KOLEJOWY, 2009-03-09
Instrukcja eksploatacji i utrzymania urzdze elektrycznego ogrzewania rozjazdw, PKP Polskie
Linie Kolejowe S.A., Warszawa, 2007
Jianming J. (1993). The finite element method in electromagnetic, A Wiley-Interscience
Publication, John Wiley & Sons, INC., New York
Jiles D. (1991). Introduction to Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Chapman & Hall, ISBN 0412-386-30-5,New York
Kiraga K., Szychta E., Andrulonis J. (2010). Wybrane metody ogrzewania rozjazdw kolejowych
artyku przegldowy, PRZEGLD ELEKTROTECHNICZNY, ISSN 0033-2097, R. 86
NR 2/2010
Kuryowicz J. (1962). Badania materiaw magnetycznych, Wydawnictwo NaukowoTechniczne, Warszawa
Leniewska E. (1997). Zastosowanie symulacji pl elektromagnetycznych w projektowaniu
przekadnikw, Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki dzkiej, Nr 766, d
Materiay seminaryjne CNTK. (2004). Wodne ogrzewanie rozjazdw kolejowych typu MAS,
Warszawa, 21-22 Kwiecie
Mendrela E., ukaniszyn M., Macek-Kamiska K. (2002). Tarczowe silniki prdu staego z
komutacj elektroniczn, Wydawnictwo Gnome, Katowice
Praca zbiorowe: Studium na temat wyboru optymalnego systemu ogrzewania rozjazdw,
COBiRTK, 1971
Prospekt informacyjny o otulinach firmy Haet Point, 2009.
Sajdak Cz., Samek E. (1985). Nagrzewanie indukcyjne. Podstawy teoretyczne i zastosowanie,
Wydawnictwo lsk, Katowice
Sikora R. (1997). Teoria pola elektromagnetycznego, Wydawnictwo Naukowo-Techniczne,
Warszawa
332
13
EMC Analysis of Railway Power Substation
Modeling and Measurements Aspects
1Universit
2Universit
1. Introduction
The first part of the chapter will present the global aspect of the railway power infrastructures
and specially the power supply substation. The goals of this study consist in proposing a high
frequency model of the railway systems and verifying by simulation the conformity with the
EMC standards. Thus, each component of the railway power infrastructure (transformer,
power rectifier) is modeled and the simulation results of the conducted emissions are
compared to measurements on a reduced scale of the power supply substation.
Each part of the railway: for example, a locomotive or the power supply substation can
induce EMI that exceed the EMC standards limits set for the electromagnetic field,
because of power circuits that might become a source of emissions.
The whole system: the power supply line (cable) can behave as an antenna, which radiates
an electromagnetic field proportional to the current. The spectrum and the intensity of the
current depend not only on the power absorbed by a train, but also from the structure
(geometrical dimensions ...) of the line, that may cause resonances as shown in Fig.2.
However, a train might be or be not compliant to field standards depending on the line
characteristics and on its position on the railway. Nowadays, trains are designed to meet
EMC rules, but the non-compliances can be remedied thanks to identification of the
different resonances frequency, which can occur mainly in a frequency range from some
kilohertz up to one gigahertz.
334
which component of field, magnetic (up to 30MHz) or electric (above 30 MHz), has to
be measured,
the resolution bandwidth (RBW) of the spectrum analyzer that must be used for the
measurements. Then the limit curve depends on these parameters and is not a constant
as shown until 1MHz in fig.2
During measurements of the electromagnetic field radiated at 10 m from the railway track,
we can observe that, sometimes, for some frequency, the standards limit can be exceeded.
An example of measurement from 10 kHz to 1 MHz is given in fig. 2. The exceeding is
characterized by resonance phenomena which appeared for some frequencies of the power
supply current.
1.5 m
10 m
Fig. 1. On site measurement of the electromagnetic radiation of the train (stationary and
moving)
335
H (dBA/m)
60
Resonance due to
Infrastructure or train
EN 50121-3-1
limit
40
20
0
20
0.01
0.1
Frequency (MHz)
The first one is the lines system constituted by the catenaries and the rails; this
transmission line has already been modeled in a previous work [2], taken into account
all important parameters in an EMC point of view (non uniformity and camber of the
lines, multi-conductors structures, conductivity of the ballast, ...)
The second main part is defined by the power supply substation which contains often a
power transformer, sometimes static converters, and cables, bus bars...etc.
336
337
(db S/m)
-7 5
in
S im u la tio n s
M e a s u re m e n ts
-7 0
-8 0
-8 5
-9 0
-9 5
-1 0 0
-1 0 5
-1 1 0
0 .5
1
F r e q u e n c y (M H z )
1 .5
Fig. 5. Example of obtained results (corrsponding to the Fig. 4 configuration). The generator
give a sinusoidal signal of 1V amplitude.
338
parasitic capacitances which appear between windings due to the insulated parts of the
transformer. The analysis of the transformer behavior shows that it's possible to use an
equivalent electrical circuit model which is valid in the considered frequency band.
During the past decades, many models of power transformer have been studied for several
applications. Most of those models, often in a reduced frequency band, are based on the
representation of the transformer by an arrangement of resistive, inductive and capacitive
elements which can take into account the physical behavior of power transformer [3]; some
others are wide band models established using the black box principle [7]. Obviously, its
also possible to apply the FEM (Finite Element Method) method to have a precise model,
but in this case, the exact constitution of the transformer must be known. Some additional
difficulties are found in the studied problem: how to found the appropriate data sheet when
the transformer is operated in the railway system since many years? In the following
sections, we will present the proposed equivalent model and two techniques used to
identify the transformer parameters.
Figure 7-a (15kVA transformer) and Fig. 7-b (2.38MVA transformer) show the secondary
winding impedance measured when the primary is short circuited for these two
transformers.
These two impedances have been measured in the same frequency band: 100 kHz to 40MHz.
We can note that these two responses are globally identical. Thus, we will model, in the first
time, a low power transformer before to apply this model to a real substation transformer.
Fig. 7. Secondary winding impedance measurements when the primary is short circuited
for two tested transformers (a- 15kVA and b- 2.38MVA)
339
Loads
Rectifier
Ground Plane
Power
transformer
340
The block Ra12 - La12 (Rb12 - Lb12 and Rc12 - Lc12 resp.) shown in the Fig. 9 represents the
leakage inductance and wire resistance (due to the skin effects) of the phase A (B and C
resp.) [14].
The magnetizing impedance is modeled thanks to a resistance (Ram) with an inductance
in parallel (Lam) for phase A (resp. Rbm, Lbm and Rcm, Lcm for phase B and C resp.). Of
course, the magnetizing impedance changes with the frequency [7] [15].
In the proposed model, the considered capacitances, presented in fig 9, are listed below
[16], [17] :
Turn-to-turn capacitance of the primary and secondary windings: Ca1, Ca2, Cb1, Cb2,
Cc1, Cc2,
Capacitances between windings (divided in two capacitances): Ca31, Ca32, Cb31, Cb32,
Cc31, Cc32,
Capacitance between the input of the primary winding and the output of the
secondary: Car, Cbr, Ccr,
341
Capacitances between the winding and the ground: Ca1g, Ca2g, Cb1g, Cb2g, Cc1g, Cc2g,
Capacitances between the phases (CAB, CBC, Cab, Cbc).
Impedance called augmented model: the impedance measurements show fast
fluctuations above 10 MHz (Fig.10) and their modeling using electric circuits can be
time consuming. However, the use of macro model can be a good solution to take into
account these fast variations at high frequency. These impedances are modeled by
blocks named augmented model as shown in Fig.9 and defined by using vector
fitting method; details are given in [4-5-6].
Note: The proposed model can be used to model a single phase transformer by using only
one circuit by phase.
6.4 Validation results
The experimental results, in time or in frequency domain presented in the next sections,
allow determining the various parameters of the proposed model. Figure 10 shows an
example of modeling results compared to experimental data.
Fig. 10. Comparison within measurements and simulation results (impedance of the
primary winding, the secondary being open)
342
winding, at low frequency, when the secondary winding is open as shown in Fig 11. The
values of these parameters for the phase A and B are given as following:
Ram= 13.44 k,
and
Lam=31.19 mH,
Rbm= 15.87 k
and
Lbm=32.14 mH
However, if we take into account the geometry of the transformer, phases A and C are
considered, to have the same behavior, then the corresponding parameters are supposed to
have the same value.
7.2 The leakage impedance
The leakage inductance and the wire resistance (the skin effect) of the winding can be
determined by measuring the primary impedance when the secondary winding is shortcircuited. Winding losses can be estimated from the impedance measured in the low
frequency band as shown in Fig. 12.
Magnetizing
impedance
Fig. 11. Primary winding impedance when the secondary is opened (measuremens on the
Phase A of the test bench transformer)
343
Leakage
inductance with
skin effects
R1
0.6
0.6
R2
58
58
R3
49
0.001
R4
132
33
R5
45
37
R6
472
1082
R7
746
15
R8
679
39
L1
L2
L3
L4
L5
L6
L7
L8
1.1
1.1
1.08
2.3
3.6
2.4
100
2.5
13
8.3
11
11
54
36
14
69
Table 1. Parameters of the leakage impedance model of the laboratory transformer (phase C
is supposed equivalent to phase A)
344
Fig. 14. Measurement configuration used for determining capacitances (example for phase A)
345
L=4.8 uH
R=300
Fig. 15. Equivalent circuit for high frequency behavior of the transformer.
This circuit is repesented by a component named "augmented model" in figure 9.
Fig. 16. Primary impedance with secondary short circuited (Phase A). Comparison between
measurement and simulation result with and without the augmented model (named black
box in the figure).
346
We propose a measurement method, carried out in time domain and based on the injection
of higher level signals in the transformer. The principle of the proposed method and the
obtained results are presented in the next section. [9]
347
and the Fourier calculation of the current which can be calculated through a FFT algorithm
for all measurements. The various impedances of the equivalent circuit shown in Fig. 9 can
then be determined through various configurations of the transformer.
Fig. 18. Voltage waveform in primary winding when the secondary is open
348
Fig. 19. Current waveform in primary winding when the secondary is open
Figure 20 shows the comparison between the impedance measured at the primary winding
when the secondary is short circuited measured directly in frequency domain with
impedance analyzer and the impedance issued from the data processing applied to
measurements in time domain.
Fig. 20. Comparison between measurement of impedance in frequency domain and with
temporal method applied to impedance of the primary winding, the secondary being short
circuited.
349
The obtained results show a good agreement between these methods. However, we note a
small difference, in the impedance variation between these methods in low frequency,
which may be due to two reasons: the low accuracy of measurement equipments in the time
domain (oscilloscope, probes ...) and the behavior of the magnetic material at low frequency.
We can say that these results validate the proposed temporal method. This method is based
on measurement of the voltage and current waveforms in the study system by reference to
the method of Frequency Response Analysis FRA [10] which is based on the determination
of the transfer function and voltage measurements. In the proposed method, the injection of
higher current values allows us to obtain the nominal operating of the transformer.
Fig. 22. Measured (left) and simulated (right) output current of the power transformer (Phase A)
350
As shown in Figure 22, we note a good agreement between the measured and simulated
currents. Nevertheless, the waveform of the measured current is disturbed by digital noise
of the oscilloscope. Moreover in our simulation we used sources without noise which does
not exist in real case.
10.2 The laboratory setup with the line
As a conclusion of the laboratory study, we have realized a complete simulation of a railway
power system by adding a power line and a power load to the transformer. Fig. 23 shows
the experimental setup.
z=0 m
z=5,6 m
Fig. 24. Comparison between measurement and modeling : frequency variation of the
current in the power line for two positions of the sensors
351
These curves show that the model seems very good until 10MHz. These results on a reduced
scale power system are very encouraging and this study has to be continued on a real
railway power substation
11. Conclusion
The results obtained with a laboratory power transformer show a good agreement between
simulations and experimental results in time and in frequency domain.
Depending on the application, the measurements approach, in frequency domain, is often
used and gives good results. However, for the high power system it is not possible to use to
impedance analyzer (specific apparatus) thus other methods can be used as the Frequency
Response Analysis (FRA). Nevertheless, the power necessary for these experimental
determinations is low and can be a problem when the goal of the measurements is to define
a model functioning at high power level for a large frequency band. The proposed
experimental method, in time domain, allows making measurements with high injected
power. The preliminary results, obtained on a laboratory transformer are very interesting.
12. Acknowledgment
This work has been done with the help of V. Deniau and J. Rioult from IFSTTAR LEOST
laboratory and G Nottet from Alstom Transport within CEMRAIL project, with
competitiveness cluster I-TRANS
13. References
[1] European Standards EN 50121: 2006 Railway applications Electromagnetic
Compatibility.
[2] A Cozza, "Railways EMC : assessment of infrastructure impact" PhD thesis Lille and
Torino , 2005
[3] C. Andrieu, E. Daupahant and D. Boss, A frequency- Dependant Model for a MV/LV
Transformer, IPST99 International Conference on Power Systems Transient,
June 20-24,1999, Budapest
[4] H. Ouaddi, S. Baranowski, N. Idir "High frequency modelling of power transformer :
application to railway substation in scale model", XIV International Symposium on
Electromagnetic Fields in Mechatronics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Arras, France, September 2009.
[5] J. Kolstad, C. Blevins, J. Dunn, A. Weisshaar, NewCircuit Augmentation Method for
Modeling ofInterconnects and Passive Components, IEEE Trans, Advanced
packaging, Vol. 29, no.1, February 2006
[6] www.emc.polito.it section IDEM.
[7] S. Chimklai, J.R Marti, "Simplified Three-Phase Transformer Model for Electromagnetic
Transient Studies", IEEE Trans, Power Delivery, vol. 10, no. 3, July 1995, pp. 13161325.
[8] H. Ouaddi, S. Baranowski, N. Idir " High frequency modelling of power transformer:
Application to railway substation in scale model" Przegld Elektrotechniczny
(Electrical Review), ISSN 0033-2097, R.86 May 2010. pp 165-169.
352
Part 3
Signalling, Security and Infrastructure
Construction in Railway
14
Criteria for Improving the EmbankmentStructure Transition Design in Railway Lines
Inmculada Gallego, Santos Snchez-Cambronero and Ana Rivas
1. Introduction
In the design of a railroad track there are some situations in which the introduction of a
structure in the track is needed, for example a bridge, a viaduct or a pontoon. This
circumstance is even more frequent in the High Speed lines, since the design criteria,
fundamentally slopes and radius, are stricter than those for conventional lines. The
introduction of a structure determines the appearance of a point with an abrupt change in
the vertical stiffness from a track cross section to another.
The experience has shown that these transition zones between embankment and structure
are the source of many problems (related to safety, passengers comfort, maintenance
expenses, etc.), causing differential settlements among adjacent track cross sections and
originating which is known as dip (European Rail Research Institute, ERRI., 1999)
In order to diminish this unfavorable effect, the well known "technical blocks" are designed
in a length determined between the structure and the embankment of access to this one.
However, in spite of this structural disposition, it has not been found yet any design
solution that notably reduces the track geometrical quality defects that have been observed
in the mentioned zones. This is an important issue, because they produce a relevant increase
in the maintenance expenses of the High Speed lines and they affect the availability of the
track (Gallego, Lpez, Ubalde, & Texeira, 2005).
QNS 0.45
V
b mK ,
100
(1)
where: (QNS) is the standard deviation of the dynamic overloads due to the un-sprung
masses of the material; V is the running speed of the vehicle; b is a variable related to the
track defects and to the vehicle defects; m is the un-sprung mass of the vehicle; k is the
vertical track stiffness; () is Damping of the track.
356
Expression (1) introduces a new criterion to reduce the mutual aggressiveness between track
and vehicle. From that it is deduced the importance of having a low value of the vertical
stiffness of the track (K) and of the un-sprung mass of the vehicle (m) to avoid increasing the
dynamic overloads due to the un-sprung masses. This influence is a more relevant fact in
high speed trains.
In addition, it is not only the stiffness value which determines the dynamic overloads. They
are also influenced by the variation of the stiffness value that might exist from one sleeper to
another.
The first studies carried out to deal with this problem were carried out by Amielin, 1974,
later on in the eighties they stand out those by Lopez, 1983, Hettle, 1986, Hunt, 1997, Esveld,
2001, Lpez A. , 2001 or Teixeira, 2003 shown that as the difference between the stiffness
values of two consecutive sleepers increases, the reaction on the sleepers increases, thereby
increasing the load on the sleeper. On the other hand, next to these increments of stress, the
experience has proved that some differential settlements are originated. As a result of these
two factors hanging sleepers can be developed that in turn increase the stress on the ballast.
In order to avoid this deterioration experimented in the transitions, these sections are built
the well known technical blocks, whose aim is achieving a gradual increase in the stiffness
from one sleeper to the following one, as we reach the structure.
Now, it is interesting to know: How are these designs? What criteria are used to define
them? To answer these questions a revision of the designs used by the different
European Railway Administrations has been made. Five types of the most used
measures have been identified. They are enumerated next, being the first one the most
frequently employed:
Backfill behind the abutment either with materials of a high compression level or
granular material treated with cement.
Use of a transition slab built with reinforced concrete or another material.
Introduction of horizontal layers on a track formation of different materials.
Use of geosynthetics to achieve an abutment reinforced backfill.
Treatment of the track bed and sub-ballast with cement.
Along with these measures, they have been also identified a variety of track formation
materials behind the abutment. There are three types that stand out, just as it is schematized
in Fig 1. The first two types are the more frequently used, and with regard to that work they
will be called slope type PA and slope type PB.
357
This revision of the solutions employed, shows a lack of homogeneity of the design criteria:
each Railway Administration uses different designs for the longitudinal sections of the
embankment-structure transitions.
E (N/m2)
c (N/m2)
(0)
(N/m3)
Rail steel
2.1x1011
0.3
7.5 104
Elastic bearing
2.952x108
Sleeper
element 1
8.01x1010
0.25
Sleeper
element 2
5.02x1010
0.25
Sleeper
element 3
3.68x1010
0.25
Ballast
1.3x108
0.2
45
1.9x104
Sub-ballast
1.2x10
0.3
45
1.9x104
Track bed
8.107
0.3
35
2x104
Material QS1
1.25x10
0.4
15000
10
2x104
Material QS2
2.50x107
0.3
10000
20
2x104
Material QS3
8x10
0.3
35
2x104
1.6x108
0.25
2.3x104
3x109
0.2
2.7x104
Cement-treated
granular
material
Rock
358
GEOMETRIC
PARAMETERS
Slope
Type of
value
design (Fig 1)
(H:V)
PA
1:1
PB
3:1
GEOTECHNICAL
Name of case studies
PARAMETERS
H embankment (H7)Disposition value of the
Type material
slope- material 1of transition Original ground
material2-original ground
(type1/type2)
QS2/QS3
QS1
H7PA11QS2QS3QS1
QS2
QS2/MGT*
QS3
QS3/MGT*
ROCA
359
Fig. 3. Schematic of the beginning and end of the technical block in the slope of type PB and PA
4.2 Geometry of the analyzed domain
The directions considered for the model are the following ones: the axis x indicates the
sleeper direction, the axis y the vertical and the axis z the rail direction (see Fig 2).
360
361
Fig. 4. Model of the rail and elastic bearings carried out in this study
The model also sought to make the vertical stiffness equal for all of the elastic bearings (see
Fig 4). The vertical dimension and the modulus of elasticity were fixed so that the vertical
stiffness of the element coincided with the stiffness of the elastic bearing provided by the
manufacturer. For the high-speed MadridSeville line, the elastic bearings have a stiffness of
nearly 500kN/mm (Lpez A. , 2001)
Because the sleeper section is not constant along its entire length, the dimensions of its most
representative section were used for the sleeper model elements. For each element (See Fig 5),
the modeled flexural stiffness must be equal to the real flexural stiffness, as follows
Emodel I model Ereal I real
(2)
362
and was used by the Railway Track Formations Project in its recommendations on railway
track construction (Ministerio de fomento, 1999).
The use of bounded degrees of freedom requires the introduction of different nodes for each
material at the contact surface. These nodes must move equivalently in the direction
perpendicular to the contact plane (see Fig. 6). However, these nodes can move at different
values in the directions parallel to the contact plane.
This solution is effective because it solves the tensional discontinuities that appear at the
interface between two materials that differ significantly in their stiffness. In this model,
bounded degrees of freedom were used at the sleeperballast contacts.
363
In the vertical plans limits of the model, z=0 and z=7.20m, the boundary condition
adopted is to impose the nullity of movement in the perpendicular direction to these
plans (uz=0).
In the vertical plans limits of the model, x=0 and x=18.45m, the boundary condition is,
like the previous one, to impose the nullity of movement in the perpendicular direction
to these plans (ux=0).
In the horizontal inferior plan of the model y=-3m, the condition to be imposed is the
null vertical displacement (uy=0).
F I 1 , J 2 , c ; ( ) I 1 J 2 K( , ) 0 ,
(3)
(4)
(5)
where
and
364
When the function that defines the yield surface (3) is represented in the main stress space, a
cone is obtained, the axis of which is the hydrostatic axis (see Fig 8).
Fig. 9. Finite-element model for transitions with slopes of type PA31 and PB11
4.7 Hypothesis adopted
The load application must be carried out in several stages. In the first stage, only the
materials own weight is considered until reaching the stress balance, while at later stages
the loads due to the train are also taken into account. The stresses and displacements of
interest are the ones that correspond to the application of the train loads; therefore, they can
be calculated from the difference between the totals obtained after applying the train loads
to the first stage.
Here, it was convenient to apply four load states due to the train passage, matching each
state to the application of the static load per wheel in the four central sleepers of the model:
T5, T6, T7, and T8 (See Fig 10).
365
366
In the first phase, the main differences among the designs of the embankmentstructure
transitions are the types of materials used and the construction design. This justifies
defining two types of case studies based on different geotechnical and geometrical
parameters.
The geometrical parameters include the type and grade of slope; the latter is defined, e.g.,
as 1 : 1 and 3 : 2 (H : V , horizontal and vertical). The geotechnical parameters are the
modulus of elasticity of the materials that compose the embankment fill and the original
ground. For the modulus of elasticity, a range of values was used, matching those
adopted in the numerical model presented by ORE Committee D-117. The values
coincide with the lower limit values corresponding to the material types QS1, QS2, QS3,
and rock (see Tab 1).
To fill the embankment, granular material processed with cement (MGT) was added to the
model, since this material is so frequently used. Combining all these values with the
technical block and the four load states already described, yielded a total of 48 case studies
(see Tab 2). The modeling results for the case studies are shown in Tab 3.
To make additional comparisons, the stiffness was calculated for cases in which the fill
corresponded to conventional embankments made with the same type of material (see
Tab 4).
1. It is useful to apply stiffness values not only at the beginning but also at the end of the
technical block; therefore, the cases corresponding to the ends of the technical blocks were
calculated. Since the calculated stiffness values in the first 48 cases were similar for
original ground QS1 and QS2, and for QS3 and rock, it was sufficient to calculate the cases
corresponding to QS2 and QS3, thereby reducing the number of cases from 48 to 24 (see
Tab 5).
5.2 Second phase
The second phase involved analyzing the results of the first phase. The criteria were to limit
the following:
367
TRANSITION
TYPE
ORIGINAL
GROUND QS1
ORIGINAL
GROUND QS2
ORIGINAL
GROUND QS3
ORIGINAL
GROUND
ROCK
H7PA11QS2QS3
11.242
17.227
37.206
42.752
H7PB11QS2QS3
18.847
19.957
36.054
39.325
H7PA31QS2QS3
10.800
16.380
34.139
39.744
H7PB31QS2QS3
14.015
19.296
34.519
38.512
H7PA11QS2MGT
15.380
25.499
43.859
47.795
H7PB11QS2MGT
28.721
32.644
37.657
40.000
H7PA31QS2MGT
13.182
18.275
36.549
42.077
H7PB31QS2MGT
21.524
25.961
35.777
38.592
H7PA11QS3MGT
32.193
53.563
71.692
75.374
H7PB11QS3MGT
54.186
59.936
69.294
70.473
H7PA31QS3MGT
29.354
51.068
70.875
74.650
H7PB31QS3MGT
48.668
58.069
70.340
73.444
Table 3. Values of vertical static track stiffness at the beginning of transition K I (kN/mm)
for all cases studied
EMBANKMENT
ORIGINAL
MATERIAL
GROUND QS1
ORIGINAL
GROUND QS2
ORIGINAL
GROUND QS3
ORIGINAL
GROUND
ROCK
FULL QS2
( K (QS 2) )
10.186
15.717
33.226
38.433
FULL QS3
( K (QS 3) )
28.899
50.929
70.606
74.027
FULL MGT
( K ( MGT ) )
67.782
73.676
83.214
87.800
Table 4. Values of vertical static track stiffness K for conventional embankments (kN/mm)
368
TRANSITION
TYPE
BEGINNING ( K I )
END ( K F )
BEGINNING ( K I )
END ( K F )
H7PA11QS2QS3
H7PB11QS2QS3
H7PA31QS2QS3
H7PB31QS2QS3
17.227
19.957
16.380
19.296
37.581
47.071
41.982
49.312
37.206
36.054
34.139
34.519
61.927
64.276
65.175
67.536
H7PA11QS2MGT
H7PB11QS2MGT
H7PA31QS2MGT
H7PB31QS2MGT
25.499
32.644
18.275
25.961
62.550
66.571
68.029
69.294
43.859
37.657
36.549
35.777
72.812
80.345
76.708
79.658
H7PA11QS3MGT
H7PB11QS3MGT
H7PA31QS3MGT
H7PB31QS3MGT
53.563
59.936
51.068
58.069
68.278
71.145
71.418
71.009
71.692
69.294
70.875
70.340
79.658
78.319
82.844
82.115
Table 5. Values of vertical static track stiffness at the beginning K I and end of transition K F
(kN/mm) for all cases studied
These criteria were applied in two steps. Initially, the first two criteria were applied, and
solutions were discarded if they resulted in either very high stiffness values, which generate
elevated dynamic overloads, or very low stiffness values, which generate excessive rail
deformations of the rail. To determine whether the stiffness values were high or low, they
were compared to the values for designs using the same original ground material and the
same materials as the simulated transition. Tab 6 shows the solutions remaining after this
elimination process.
Materials of
transition:
Type1/Type 2
QS2/QS3
QS2/MGT
QS3/MGT
ORIGINAL
GROUND QS1
ORIGINAL
GROUND QS2
ORIGINAL
GROUND QS3
PB31
PA11
PB31
PA11
PB31
PA11
PB31
PA11
PB31
PA11
PB31
PA11
PB11
PA31
PB11
PA31
PB31
PA31
ORIGINAL
GROUND
ROCK
PB11
PA31
PB11
PA31
PB31
PA31
Table 6. Transition types obtained after eliminating the transition types that with extreme
stiffness values
The second step consisted of applying the third criterion, limiting the longitudinal variation
value. From among the case studies, the cases selected were those with the smallest increase in
the K value at the beginning and end of the technical blocks. In this way, the most appropriate
solutions were obtained for each type of original ground material (QS2 and QS3). This approach
yields certain design recommendations, which are described in the following section.
369
Excessive deformations were observed in the rail when material of type QS1 exists in
the original ground (see Fig 11). These deformations reached 14mm under the rail when
transitions QS2 and QS3 were used (Tab 7). In these cases, the deformations were large,
as were the deformation values between adjacent sleepers. For this reason, it is
appropriate to substitute the original ground material of type QS1 with another
material or to treat the existing QS1 material in such a way as to obtain a modulus of
elasticity corresponding to that of a material of at least type QS2.
In transitions from material of type QS2 to treated granular material, which occurs
commonly in buried structures, the stiffness increased significantly at the beginning of the
technical block when there was a relatively compressible material in the original ground.
The solution with the smallest increase in the stiffness value was PA31. Fig 12 shows this
value to be 16.4% which is too large. For this reason, transition-type QS2/MGT is not
appropriate for use in the surface structure.
370
H7PA11QS2QS3
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PB11QS2QS3
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PA31QS2QS3
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PB31QS2QS3
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PA11QS2MGT
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PB11QS2MGT
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PA31QS2MGT
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PB31QS2MGT
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PA11QS3MGT
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PB11QS3MGT
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PA31QS3MGT
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
H7PB31QS3MGT
LOADED SLEEPER 5
LOADED SLEEPER 6
LOADED SLEEPER 7
LOADED SLEEPER 8
SLEEPER 6
SLEEPER 7
SLEEPER 8
-0.0083
-0.0104
-0.0113
-0.0117
-0.0077
-0.0106
-0.0117
-0.0120
-0.0069
-0.0100
-0.0118
-0.0123
-0.0063
-0.0091
-0.0112
-0.0125
-0.0050
-0.0054
-0.0051
-0.0049
-0.0045
-0.0057
-0.0057
-0.0054
-0.0038
-0.0052
-0.0060
-0.0059
-0.0032
-0.0044
-0.0055
-0.0062
-0.0086
-0.0111
-0.0121
-0.0127
-0.0081
-0.0114
-0.0126
-0.0131
-0.0074
-0.0109
-0.0129
-0.0136
-0.0069
-0.0101
-0.0124
-0.0139
-0.0067
-0.0079
-0.0083
-0.0085
-0.0062
-0.0083
-0.0089
-0.0090
-0.0055
-0.0078
-0.0092
-0.0096
-0.0049
-0.0071
-0.0087
-0.0099
-0.0061
-0.0072
-0.0074
-0.0076
-0.0056
-0.0074
-0.0079
-0.0080
-0.0048
-0.0069
-0.0082
-0.0084
-0.0043
-0.0062
-0.0077
-0.0087
-0.0032
-0.0030
-0.0026
-0.0022
-0.0027
-0.0032
-0.0029
-0.0025
-0.0020
-0.0027
-0.0031
-0.0028
-0.0015
-0.0020
-0.0026
-0.0030
-0.0071
-0.0086
-0.0091
-0.0094
-0.0066
-0.0089
-0.0096
-0.0098
-0.0059
-0.0084
-0.0099
-0.0103
-0.0053
-0.0077
-0.0094
-0.0106
-0.0043
-0.0044
-0.0040
-0.0036
-0.0038
-0.0047
-0.0045
-0.0040
-0.0031
-0.0042
-0.0048
-0.0045
-0.0025
-0.0034
-0.0043
-0.0048
-0.0029
-0.0028
-0.0024
-0.0021
-0.0025
-0.0031
-0.0029
-0.0025
-0.0020
-0.0027
-0.0032
-0.0029
-0.0016
-0.0022
-0.0028
-0.0032
-0.0017
-0.0015
-0.0011
-0.0008
-0.0014
-0.0017
-0.0015
-0.0011
-0.0010
-0.0014
-0.0017
-0.0015
-0.0007
-0.0010
-0.0014
-0.0017
-0.0032
-0.0031
-0.0028
-0.0025
-0.0028
-0.0035
-0.0033
-0.0029
-0.0022
-0.0031
-0.0036
-0.0034
-0.0018
-0.0025
-0.0033
-0.0037
-0.0019
-0.0017
-0.0013
-0.0010
-0.0016
-0.0019
-0.0017
-0.0013
-0.0012
-0.0016
-0.0019
-0.0016
-0.0009
-0.0012
-0.0016
-0.0019
Table 7. Settlements of rail for the different load steps. Case study: original ground QS1
371
Fig. 12. Analysis of the stiffness variations assuming material transition from type QS2 to
granulartreated material
Near the abutment, the stiffness increased abruptly when using a granular material
treated with cement as fill (MGT, 3% by weight). In fact, the stiffness value of the
abutment could oscillate between 200KN/mm and 300KN/mm. The maximum of 87.8
KN/mm obtained for the case of treated granular material (Tab 4) is outside of that
range. In this case, it is necessary to put a material with greater stiffness than MGT next
to the abutment.
A direct transition from QS2 or QS3 material to the structure is not recommended. At
best, the stiffness is 38.43 KN/mm when the embankment material is QS2 and 74.027
KN/mm if it is QS3 (see Tab 4), as compared to200-300 KN/mm of vertical stiffness on
the abutment.
It is sometimes necessary to build the embankment adjacent to the abutment before
building the structure. For example, this occurs when the original ground adjacent to
the abutment is preloaded, and the load is removed immediately before building the
transition. In that case, a slope of type PA (right column) is used instead of a slope of
type PB (left column) in the transition from embankment material QS2 to QS3. In this
research, a suitable value is obtained for the slope of the transition for each type (PA,
PB). For that reason, it is necessary to distinguish between both slope types when
considering whether a better approach would be to build the embankment before or
after fabricating the structure.
In this way, based on these analyses, this study can make some recommendations about
construction designs. Moreover, this study has proposed some ideas relating to the
geometric designs of the different materials and has classified the designs according to the
original ground and according to when the adjacent embankment is built, either before or
after the construction of the structure (Fig 13).
372
7. Conclusions
The designs currently used in embankmentstructure transitions lead to zones that suffer
significant deterioration. In addition, the various European railway systems have adopted
many different design specifications when constructing these zones.
Increased railway speeds enhance the deterioration problems in the embankmentstructure
transitions, which has important implications for operating and maintenance costs, as well
as for passenger safety and comfort.
From the numerical analysis carried out in this study, the following conclusions are drawn:
The embankment must not be built on excessively compressible material, as shown for
material of type QS1 on original ground. Such material must be replaced with another
material or treated to obtain a modulus of elasticity corresponding to that of a material
of at least type QS2.
Transitions from material of type QS2 to material of type MGT should be carried out
when there the original ground is of type QS3, or when the buried structure is treated.
For each disposition type (PA, PB), there exists an optimal value for the slope. This
value is not always the lowest one (3:1), as expected. The most suitable slope value (3:1
or 1:1) depends on the of original ground material, on the disposition type, and on the
materials used in the transition.
373
An abrupt increase in the stiffness takes place when a granular material treated with
cement (MGT at 3% by weight) is used near the abutment. This problem remains
unresolved, but future solutions should focus on improving the modulus of elasticity of
the material without producing excessive stiffness increases at the extremes of the
transition from the material of type QS3 to the treated material.
The application of all of those conclusions leads to a succession of recommendations for the
most suitable building designs. When developing such designs, those factors which have an
influence on the transition behavior (original ground, transition materials, and slope type)
must be considered.
8. References
Amielin, S. (1974). La va y el servicio de va. (Spanish translation from the original in
Russian, by Fundacin de los Ferrocarriles Espaoles).
Comit D-117 (ORE). (1983). Adaptation optimale de la voie classique au trafic de lavenir.Rapport
no. 27. Comportement des structures dassise de la voiesous charges rptes. Office de
Recherches et dEssais delUnion Internationale des Chemins de Fer.
Esveld, C. (2001). Modern railway track. The Netherlands: MRTProductions.
European comunity. (2005). Sustained Performance of Railway Tracks-SUPERTRACK Project
Numerical simulation of train-track dynamics.
European Rail Research Institute, ERRI. (1999). Code D-230.1/RP3, Bridge ends embankment.
Structure transitions.
Gallego, I. (2006). Heterogeneidad resistente de las vas de Alta Velocidad: Transicin terraplnestructura.6. Ciudad Real: Doctoral Thesis, University of Castilla-La Mancha.
Gallego, I., & Lpez, A. (2009). Numerical simulation of embankmentstructure transition
design. Journal of Rail and Rapid Transit , 223, 331-342.
Gallego, I., Lpez, A., Ubalde, L., & Texeira, P. (2005). Track deterioration in high-speed
railways: the influence of longitudinal variatioical stiffrness in the embankmentstructure transitions. Congress on Railway Engineering. London.
Hettle, A. (1986). Modelluntersuchungen der Gleissetzungen am Ubergang Brcke (Studies
in a reduced scale model on the track sinking/downfall/collapse in a section of a
bridge/embankment transition ). ETR (Spanish translation from the original in
German) .
Hunt, H. (1997). Settlement of railway track near bridge abutment. Proc. Instn. Civil Engrs.
Transp, (pgs. 68-73).
Lpez, A. (1977). Anlisis de la deformabilidad vertical de una va frrea mediante el
mtodo de elementos finitos. AIT (15).
Lopez, A. (1983). La heterogeneidad resistente de una va y su incidencia en la evolucin de
la nivelacin longitudinal: una aproximacin al problema. Revista de Obras Pblicas,
, 719-735.
Lpez, A. (2001). La rigidez vertical de la va y el deterioro de las lneas de alta velocidad.
Revista de Obras Pblicas , 222-232.
Ministerio de fomento. (1999). Recomendaciones para el proyecto de plataformas ferroviarias.
Madrid: Servicio de publicaciones del Ministerio de Fomento.
Mira, P., Frnndez, J., Pastor, M., Nasarre, J., & Carrillo, J. (2000). Aplicaciones del mtodo
de elementos finitos a la ingeniera ferroviaria. Revista de Ingeniera Civi (118), 71-82.
374
Oliver, X., & Arlet, C. (2000). Mecnica de medios continuos para ingenieros. Barcelona:
Ediciones UPC.
Profillidis, V. (1983). La voie et sa fondation modelisation mathematique. Pars: Doctoral Thesis,
cole Nationale des Ponts et Chausses.
Prud`Homme, M. A. (1970). La voie. Revue Gnrales des Chemins de Fer .
Sahu, J., Rao, & Yudhbir. (1999). Parametric study of resilient response of tracks with a subballast layer. Canadian Geotechnical Journal , 36, 1137-1150.
Sauvage, G., & Larible, G. (1982). La modlisation par lments finis des couches d`assise de
la voie ferre. Revue Gnrale des Chemins de Fer , 475-484.
Teixeira, P. F. (2003). Contribucin a la reduccin de los costes de mantenimiento de vas de alta
velocidad mediante la optimizacin de su rigidez vertical. Doctoral Thesis, Polytechnic
University of Catalua.
15
Influence of the Phreatic Level on the Stability
of Earth Embankments
Shodolapo Oluyemi Franklin1 and Gbenga Matthew Ayininuola2
1University
of Botswana, Gaborone
of Ibadan, Ibadan
1Botswana
2Nigeria
2University
1. Introduction
Slopes in soils and rocks are common place in nature and man-made structures partly due
to the fact that they are generally less expensive than constructing walls. However slope
stability problems may arise due to the construction of artificial slopes in cuttings and
embankments for roads and railways, or the construction of earth dams and water retaining
embankments. Other reasons may include the study of the process of large scale natural
slips or the application of remedial measures when such slips have taken place (Capper &
Cassie, 1971). Existing slopes that have been stable may experience significant movement
due to natural or man-made conditions. Such changes can result from the occurrence of
earthquake, subsidence, erosion, the progression of tension or shrinkage cracks coupled
with water ingress, changes in groundwater elevation or changes in the slopes subsurface
flow which induces new seepage forces (McCarthy, 1998). Further causes may include the
removal of earth below the toe of a slope or increased loading close to the crest of the slope.
Slips may occur suddenly or gradually, commencing with a crack at the top of an earth
embankment and slight upheaval near to the bottom and subsequently developing to a
complete slip. All the foregoing actions make slip surface stability analysis of earth
embankments complex and very difficult.
Several notable methods of analyzing slip surface stability have been developed over the years.
Among the earliest was one that had its slip circle passing through soil materials whose shear
strength is based upon internal friction and effective stresses (Fellenius, 1927). In this method an
area of unit thickness of the volume tending to slide is divided into vertical strips and it is
assumed that for each slice the resultant of the interslice forces is zero. A more significant and
certainly more widely used approach utilizing the method of slices assumed a circular failure
surface and fulfilled moment equilibrium but did not fully satisfy force equilibrium (Bishop,
1955). Yet another method considered a cylindrical slip surface and assumed that the forces on
the sides of the slices are parallel (Spencer, 1967). A generalized approach (Morgenstern & Price,
1965) was developed in which all boundary and equilibrium equations are satisfied and the
failure surface could assume any shape. The method involved solving systems of singular
simultaneous equations and was unduly long in obtaining approximate answers despite the
several assumptions made. An alternative generalized procedure (Bell, 1968) has been advanced
376
which satisfies all conditions of equilibrium and assumed any failure surface. Here a solution is
obtained by assuming a distribution of normal stress along the rupture surface. An approach
involving the determination of the critical earthquake acceleration required to produce a
condition of limiting equilibrium has been developed (Sarma, 1979). Also stability charts have
been proposed which were partly based on the work of previous investigators and are
applicable to a wide range of practical conditions (Cousins, 1978).
In practically all the afore-mentioned methods, the mass of soil assumed to be associated with
the slope slide is divided into vertical slices. A slice is selected, the free body diagram of the
forces acting on the slice is drawn and subsequently, based on limit equilibrium methods, an
expression is derived for determining the factor of safety of the slope. The stability problem is
dealt with by assuming that the tangential interslice forces are equal and opposite (Bishop,
1955). An iterative method for analyzing the stability problem in non-circular slip failures
(Janbu, 1973) utilized a full rigorous algorithm and assumed a known line of thrust for the
interslice horizontal forces. The method is best suited for computer solution. Similarly
analytical solutions have been presented (Morgenstern & Price, 1965) which incorporate all
interslice forces but are dependent on several assumptions and are quite lengthy.
1.1 Role of water pressure forces
The action of water is highly significant in slope movement. In clay and shale, softening by
rain may lead to slip of a whole layer of material as a mud run. In addition water
percolating into fissured clay may result in progressive deterioration and weakening that
eventually results in reduction of shear strength so that a rotational or translational slip
occurs. Consequently, for the various methods of slices highlighted above, it is important to
stress the need to consider the water pressure forces acting not only at the interslice but also
at the slice base, for such neglect may produce erroneous results.
More accurate but lower factors of safety are claimed for methods which account for the
variation in seepage forces acting on and in the slice (King, 1989). Nevertheless such
refinements depend on good estimates of water pressure. The factors of safety obtained for a
given slope using different methods of slices are sensitive to the assumptions made in
deriving them (Morrison & Greenwood, 1989). Furthermore the interslice forces play an
important role in the resulting factors of safety. Hence the present study focuses on the
effects of omitting the interslice pore water pressure forces on the overall stability of earth
embankments and also endeavours to reduce the complexity features common to the more
recent methods of slices outlined earlier.
2. Methodology
In general, any proposed method to evaluate the factor of safety must satisfy several
requirements such as fulfilling limit equilibrium laws, account for all forces acting on the
slice, adopt few assumptions, which should be easily comprehensible, be applicable to nonhomogeneous soils, account for the water pressure distribution at the base of the slice as
well as at the interslice, and treat stability problems in terms of both effective and total
stresses. Furthermore, it is immaterial whether the horizontal interslice forces are considered
as total or effective together with the force due to water pressure. When the force due to
water pressure is correctly accounted for at the base as well as on the vertical sides of the
377
slice, then the equilibrium of the body (soil skeleton) and water (hydrostatic) as well as
normal and shear forces is maintained.
In order to properly assess the effect of water pressure forces on the stability of earth
embankments, two algorithms which utilize both the limit equilibrium approach and method of
slices are presented. The algorithms satisfy all the conditions stated above and in addition, the
stability problem is treated as a 2-dimensional one in order to arrive at the final solution more
quickly. A comprehensive description of the two algorithms and their application to a number
of embankments reported in the literature is given elsewhere (Ayininuola & Franklin, 2008).
Only the more important features will be considered here. The basic assumptions adopted for
the present purpose are as follows: (a) The line of thrust on a slice and the pore water pressure
forces are within the slice, preferably at one-third distance from the base or mid-point of the
slice vertical sides (b) Factor of safety is defined in terms of the average shear stress developed
along the potential failure surface and the average shear strength within the soil (c) Failure
occurs simultaneously throughout the soil mass within the assumed rupture boundary.
2.1 Formulation A
Consider an elemental slice in Fig. 1. Due to the many unknown forces acting on the nth
slice, the free body diagram in Fig. 2(a) is further divided into two separate bodies (Figs.
2(b) and 2(c)) under the basic requirements for the analysis of earth embankment stability.
Since Fig. 2(a) is in equilibrium with all the forces acting on it, consequently Figs. 2(b) and
2(c) are in equilibrium as well.
On examining Fig. 2(a) critically, it is observed that of the twelve forces acting on the slice,
only four have known magnitudes. This makes the analysis statically indeterminate of order
eight. For the remaining eight forces to be determined there is need to establish logical
relationships between the forces. With reference to Fig. 2(c) and letting Pw(n) be the
elemental increment of water pressure forces Pw(n+1) and Pw(n) across the slice, then
Pw n 1 Pw n Pw n
(1)
The hydrostatic force Un is obtained by measuring the free standing height of water in an
installed piezometric tube at the slice base. If the piezometric height at the base is Hw(n) then
U n w .H w n . g
(2)
where g is the acceleration due to gravity. Alternatively, since the forces acting in Fig. 2(a) are
in equilibrium, it implies that the forces in Figs. 2(b) and 2(c) are also in equilibrium. Hence the
hydrostatic force Un at the base of the slice can be determined from the weight of water in the
slice. From force equilibrium in the x and y directions the following expressions are obtained:
Un Ww n sec n
(3)
Pw n Un sin n
(4)
where Ww(n) is the weight of water in the nth slice and n is angle at the base of the slice.
Substituting the value of Un in equation (3) into equation (4) yields
378
379
380
Pw n Ww n tan n
(5)
From Fig. 2(b) let En and Xn be the elemental increments of horizontal interslice lateral
thrusts En, En+1 and vertical interslice shear forces Xn, Xn+1 respectively across the slice, that is
En En En 1 , Xn Xn Xn 1
(6)
In Fig. 2(a) since the total normal force Nn and shear force Tn acting at the base of the slice
are orthogonal, they have the same resultant Rn. In order to reduce the number of unknowns
at the base of the slice the forces Tn and Nn are expressed in terms of Rn as follows:
Tn Rn sin n , N n Rn cos n
(7)
It should be noted at this stage that the total and effective normal forces, Nn and Nn
respectively, are related to Un as follows:
N n N n Un
(8)
Limit equilibrium laws can be applied to the slice in Fig. 2(a). Firstly resolving the forces
acting on the slice in the Nn-direction yields
N n Wn cos n Xn cos n En sin n Pw n sin n Ww n cos n 0
(9)
Substituting the values of Pw(n) and Nn from equations (5) and (7) respectively into
equation (9) and re-arranging yields
Rn cos n En sin n Xn cos n Ww n cos n tan n sin n Wn cos n
(10)
Also, resolving the forces acting on the slice in the Tn-direction yields
Tn Wn sin n Xn sin n En cos n Ww n sin n Pw n cos n 0
(11)
Substituting the values of Pw(n) and Tn from equations (5) and (7) into equation (11) and
simplifying and re-arranging results in
Rn sin n Xn sin n En cos n Wn sin n
(12)
Examination of equations (10) and (12) reveals that there are three unknowns in the two
equations which render them indeterminate; in order to solve for these unknowns it is
necessary at this stage to introduce an equilibrium equation based on moments. From Fig.
2(b), taking moments of the resultants of the interslice forces and other forces about the midpoint of the slice base width gives
Xn . bn 2 En Z 3 bn 2 tan n Pw n H w n 3 0
(13)
where Z is the elevation of one side of the slice, or more correctly, the greater of Zn and Zn+1,
and Hw(n) is the height of water in the nth slice. Substituting for the value of Pw(n) from
equation (5) into equation (13) and re-arranging results in
381
En Z 3 bn 2 tan n Xn . bn 2 Ww n tan n H w n 3
(14)
Equations (10), (12) and (14) can now be assembled together as a set of simultaneous
equations in the following form
Rn cos n En sin n Xn cos n Ww n cos n tan n sin n Wn cos n
En Z 3 bn 2 tan n Xn . bn 2 Ww n tan n H w n 3
(15)
sin n
cos n Rn
cos n
sin n En
{Z 3 (bn 2)tan n }
bn 2 Xn
(16)
Wn sin n
Ww( n ) tan n ( H w( n ) 3)
where K sin n
sin n
- cos n
- Z 3 bn 2 tan n
(17)
- cos n
- sin n ,
bn 2
Wn sin n
D Rn
Xn
En
Ww n tan n H w n 3
In the above expressions the matrices D and F represent the nodal unknown forces and the
nodal applied forces respectively.
Equation (17) above is for the nth slice, and when such sets of equations are assembled for
the whole rupture mass this yields
K g .Dg Fg
(18)
where Kg is the global stiffness matrix, Dg is the global forces matrix and Fg is the global
applied forces matrix. The simultaneous equation (18) can be solved for various values of
Rn, En and Xn using the Gaussian elimination, Jacobi or Gauss-Siedel iterative techniques.
The Gaussian elimination method is, relatively speaking, the simplest and easiest of the
three procedures to implement. Once the values of Rn are obtained, the values of Nn and Tn
can also be found using equations (7) and (8).
382
The factor of safety can be defined in terms of the shear strength of the soil and the shear
stress developed along the potential failure surface based on the Coulomb-Mohr failure
criteria in terms of effective stress as follows:
Tn cnLn N n tan n
(19)
where Fs is the factor of safety and n is the angle of shearing resistance with respect to
effective stress. Substituting for the values of Tn and Nn from equations (7) and (8) into
equation (19) yields
(20)
Also substituting the value of Un from equation (3) into equation (20) and then considering
the whole of the rupture mass consisting of the set of slices will give
Fs
(21)
Fs
(22)
Equation (22) can be use to analyze stability problems involving both homogeneous and
non-homogeneous soils types.
Irrespective of whether the earth embankment is partially or wholly drained, the equation
can be applied because during its formulation both states of stress were taken into
account.
2.2 Formulation B
The present study seeks to investigate the effect of hydrostatic pore water pressure forces
on the overall stability of earth embankments and as such, in order to establish a basis of
comparison with the earlier algorithm presented, an alternative approach is developed.
This treats stability problems in terms of effective stresses and assumes that the influence
of water pressure forces acting at the interslice can be neglected. The lines of action of
Pw(n+1) and Pw(n) are taken to be coincident and also Pw(n) = 0. Proceeding along the same
lines as the previous formulation, the following set of simultaneous equations can be
arrived at:
En Z 3 bn 2 tan n Xn . bn 2 0
(23)
383
For the typical nth slice the above equation in matrix format becomes
cos n
sin
n
sin n
cos n Rn ( Ww( n ) Wn )cos n
cos n
sin n En ( W w( n ) Wn )sin n
{ Z 3 ( bn 2)tan n }
bn 2 X n
0
(24)
Again proceeding along the same lines as the previous formulation, an expression very
similar to equation (22) can be obtained as follows:
Fs
(25)
Although equations (25) and (22) are very similar, the procedures for evaluating the
values of Rn in both equations are certainly not the same. Consequently different values of
factors of safety will be obtained using both approaches. The methods developed can be
used for slip surface stability analysis either manually or with a programmable calculator.
However while this may be true for fairly homogeneous slopes, for real or nonhomogeneous soils the computation work is quite daunting for practical design. This is on
account of the number of rupture surfaces that may need to be analyzed in order to obtain
the most critical rupture surface for design purposes as well as the fact that the global
stiffness matrix Kg mentioned earlier may be of the order 60 x 60 or more, depending on
the number of slices within the rupture mass. Hence comprehensive computer software
was developed involving two minimization computer programmes which can handle
problems of up to three soil strata; some details of the programmes are given elsewhere
(Ayininuola, 1999).
3. Results
In order to assess the effect of the pore water pressure forces, the procedures developed in
the present study have been applied to a number of earth embankments some of which are
reported in the literature. Firstly, the Lodalen Landslide (Sevaldson, 1956) is examined and
then, the case of a non-homogeneous earth dam (Sherard et al, 1978) is investigated. Finally
the effect of altering the phreatic level on the Okuku dam in South-Western Nigeria
(Ayininuola & Franklin, 2008) is studied.
3.1 Stability analysis of the Lodalen Landslide (Sevaldson, 1956)
Fig. 3 shows a sectional view of the Lodalen Landslide. A stability analysis of the earth
embankment prior to the occurrence of the slide will be carried out. Towards this end the
initial rupture surface has been divided into 13 slices. The necessary data have been taken
from the initial rupture surface and fed into the computer programme mentioned earlier. A
total of 100 rupture surfaces have been considered in the analysis. Details of the computer
output are not presented here, but a summary of the main findings are shown in Table 1 and
these results are discussed at a later stage.
384
385
Method
Factor of Safety
Authors Formulation A
Authors Formulation B
Bishops Simplified
0.80
0.90
0.90
Authors Formulation A
Authors Formulation B
Bishops Simplified
1.49
1.83
1.83
Authors Formulation A
Authors Formulation B
Bishops Simplified
0.66
0.78
0.78
Table 1. Results of stability analysis of Lodalen slide and a non-homogeneous earth dam
3.3 Stability analysis of Okuku earth dam, Nigeria
On account of the accessibility to data, the Okuku dam has been utilized as a case study in
order to investigate and understand the response of the proposed formulations to changes
in the phreatic levels in the earth embankment due to variation in water levels in the storage
reservoir. The dam was constructed in 1995 at Okuku town located on the 8o 02N and 4o
40E coordinates and approximately 40 km North-East of Osogbo in Osun State, SouthWestern Nigeria. The dam axis located across River Anle, a seasonal stream, is about 1.5 km
South-East of Okuku town. The dam is a homogeneous earth dam built with poorly graded
sand clay mixtures which possess the following soil characteristics, namely, cohesion c = 45
KN/m2, angle of shearing resistance = 12o and additionally, average dry density of dam
construction materials, = 19.63 KN/m3. The height of the crest above the base of the dam is
10 metres and the upstream and downstream sections are sloped at ratios 1:3 and 1:2.5
respectively. In Figs. 6 and 7, diagrams of the dam embankment for both the upstream and
downstream sections at different levels of water in the storage reservoir are shown.
Additional details in respect of the dam design may be found elsewhere (Ayininuola, 1999).
The factors of safety at different phreatic levels for both the upstream and downstream
sections of the dam have been estimated using the two formulations developed earlier. A
total of 500 rupture surfaces have been examined for each section. A summary of the results
is presented in Table 2 and Figs. 8 and 9.
386
Fig. 4. Upstream section of an earth dam embankment (Modified from Sherard et al, 1978)
387
Fig. 5. Downstream section of an earth dam embankment (Modified from Sherard et al, 1978)
388
Fig. 6. Upstream section of Okuku earth dam (Courtesy Konsadem Associates Ltd., Nigeria)
389
Fig. 7. Downstream section of Okuku earth dam (Courtesy Konsadem Associates Ltd., Nigeria)
390
Water level
(metres)
Stability values
for Formulation
A
Stability values
using
formulation B
Difference (%)
Upstream
9.00*
6.55*
5.25*
3.70*
2.43
2.60
2.81
3.01
2.78
2.85
2.93
3.03
14.40
9.62
4.27
0.66
Downstream
9.00**
6.55**
5.25**
3.70**
2.25
2.53
2.74
2.89
2.67
2.76
2.83
2.90
18.67
9.09
3.28
0.35
Section of dam
under
consideration
Fig. 8. Variation of factor of safety of dam embankment with reservoir water depth
(upstream section)
391
Fig. 9. Variation of factor of safety of dam embankment with reservoir water depth
(downstream section)
4. Discussion
The comments outlined here are based primarily on the results presented in Tables 1 and 2,
as well as in Figs. 8 and 9. As noted in the preceding section, details of the computer output
in respect of the stability analysis carried out are not presented here, but may be obtained
elsewhere (Ayininuola & Franklin, 2008; Ayininuola, 1999).
4.1 Comparison between formulations A and B and Bishops simplified method
The procedures developed in the present study as well as Bishops have been applied to
the Lodalen landslide as well as the non-homogeneous earth dam described in the
preceding section. Using Table 1 and the results of the computer generated output for
the Lodalen landslide as guide, several points may be noted. Firstly the water pressure
forces acting at the interslice have great influence on the elemental horizontal thrusts
generated at the interslice. They also have a direct influence on the elemental shear
forces at the interslice. In this region when the elemental water pressure forces are
assumed to be zero, the values of the elemental horizontal thrusts and shear forces that
develop are much smaller than those obtained when water pressure forces are taken into
account.
In addition to the above, water pressure forces, elemental horizontal thrusts and elemental
shear forces are directly affected by the slice inclination angles. When for example the
inclination angle is zero, the effect of all the forces mentioned is practically negligible. At the
interslice when the piezometric height Hw(n) is zero, the values of elemental
392
horizontal thrust and elemental shear force are zero. Furthermore the factors of safety
obtained when the net effect of water pressure forces at the interslice is taken to be zero are
higher than the corresponding values when the afore-mentioned forces are considered by
the order of 8% 24% depending on the phreatic level. Also the results given by
Formulation B, which ignores the water pressure forces effect at the interslices, are
practically identical to those obtained using Bishops method.
4.2 Influence of the phreatic level on earth dam stability
With reference to Table 2 and Figs. 8 and 9, the results of stability analysis of Okuku earth
dam reveal that the higher the phreatic level in the storage reservoir of the earth dam, the
greater the variation between the stability values obtained using Formulations A and B.
When the water pressure forces are ignored, higher factors of safety of the order of 0.35%
18.67% are obtained. With regards to the curves in Figs. 8 and 9, and also from a study of the
computer generated output, it is observed that at low phreatic levels in the storage reservoir
of between 20% and 30% of the dam height, both approaches yield similar stability values.
5. Conclusions
An in-depth study of the effect of the pore water pressure forces acting at the interslice on
the stability of earth dams has been carried out. This has been achieved by developing two
procedures and applying the formulations to a number of practical cases. Based on the
results of the investigation, a number of conclusions can be drawn: Firstly the magnitudes of
effective horizontal thrusts and shear forces generated at the interslice when pore water
pressure forces induced are taken into consideration are higher than those obtained when
these forces are ignored. This demonstrates that the pore water pressures developed have an
influence on the values of other interslice forces. Secondly the inclusion of net water
pressure forces in the stability analysis of the earth embankments studied clearly show that
the action of the water pressure forces serves to promote instability, as would be expected.
Thirdly the popular practice amongst geotechnical engineers of resolving the water pressure
within a given slice in a direction of normal at the slice base in order to estimate its value,
whilst the horizontal effect of the slice base water pressure is taken as zero, constitutes a
grave error. This action is not in line with limit equilibrium procedures and yields erroneous
results. Fourthly at low phreatic levels the proposed approaches give practically similar
factors of safety. This implies that the effect of water pressure forces acting on the interslice
can only be neglected when the phreatic line in an embankment is at its lowest stage, a
considerable period after drawdown, or preferably between 20% and 30% of the overall
height of the embankment. Finally the factors of safety found using Bishops simplified
method and that based on Formulation B, which ignores the pore water pressure forces
effect, are in very close agreement. This simply implies that the inclusion of only the
effective horizontal thrusts and shear forces acting at the interslice has little influence on the
resulting factors of safety.
6. Acknowledgments
The present investigators would wish to thank the management of Konsadem Associates
Limited, Ibadan, Nigeria for making readily available the data and other aspects relating to
393
the design of the Okuku earth dam embankment. In addition the assistance received from
staff of Ete-Aro and Partners Limited, Ibadan, is gratefully acknowledged. The authors
would also wish to place on record the encouragement of staff of the Department of Civil
Engineering, University of Ibadan, Nigeria as well as staff of the Department of Civil
Engineering, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana.
7. References
Capper, P. & Cassie, W. (1971). The Mechanics of Engineering Soils, 5th Edition, E. & F.N. Spon,
ISBN 419-10700-2, London, United Kingdom
McCarthy, D. (1998). Essentials of Soil Mechanics and Foundations - Basic Geotechnics, 5th
Edition, Prentice-Hall, ISBN 0-13-506932-7, New Jersey, USA
Fellenius, W. (1927). Erdstatische Berechnungen mit Reibung und Kohasion Adhasion und unter
Annahme Kreiszylindrischer Gleitflachen, W. Ernst, Berlin
Bishop, A. (1955). The Use of the Slip Circle in the Stability Analysis of Slopes, Geotechnique,
Vol.5, No.1, (March 1955), pp 717, ISSN 0016-8505
Spencer, E. (1967). A Method of Analysis of the Stability of Embankments Assuming Parallel
Interslice Forces, Geotechnique, Vol.17, No.1, (March 1967), pp 1126, ISSN 00168505
Morgenstern, N. & Price, V. (1965). The Analysis of the Stability of General Slip Surfaces,
Geotechnique, Vol.15, No.1, (March 1965), pp 7993, ISSN 0016-8505
Bell, J. (1968). General Slope Stability Analysis, J. Soil Mech. & Found. Div., ASCE, Vol.94,
No.6, (June 1968), pp. 253270, ISSN 04447994
Sarma, S. (1973). Stability Analysis of Embankments and Slopes, Geotechnique, Vol.23, No.2,
(June 1973), pp. 423433, ISSN 0016-8505
Cousins, B. (1978). Stability Charts for Simple Earth Slopes, J. Geotechnical. Eng. Div., ASCE,
Vol.104, No. GT2, (February 1978), pp. 267279, ISSN 00936405
Janbu, N. (1973). Slope Stability Computations, In: Embankment Dam Engineering- Casagrande
Memorial Volume, R.C. Hirschfield & S.J. Poulos (Ed.), 4786, John Wiley & Sons,
ISBN 0-471-40050-5, New York, USA
King, G. (1989). Revision of Effective Stress Method of Slices, Geotechnique, Vol.39, No.3,
(September 1989), pp. 497502, ISSN 0016-8505
Morrison, I. & Greenwood, J. (1989). Assumptions in Simplified Slope Analysis by the
Method of Slices, Geotechnique, Vol.39, No.3, (September 1989), pp. 503509, ISSN
0016-8505
Ayininuola, G. & Franklin, S. (2008). Water Pressure Forces Effect on Earth Embankments
Stability, Global Journal of Engineering and Technology, Global Research Publication,
Vol.1, No.2, (June 2008), pp. 169188
Ayininuola, G. {1999). The Effect of Hydrostatic Pore Water Pressure Forces on the Stability of
Earth Embankments, Unpublished M.Sc. Dissertation, University of Ibadan,
Nigeria.
Sevaldson, R. (1956). The Slide in Lodalen, Oct. 6th 1954, Geotechnique, Vol.6, No.4,
(December 1956), pp 167191, ISSN 0016-8505
394
Sherard, J., Woodward, R., Gizienski, S. & Clevenger, W. (1978). Earth-Rock Dams:
Engineering Problems of Design and Construction, J. Wiley and Sons, ISBN 0-47178547-4, New York, USA
16
Evolutionary Algorithms in
Embedded Intelligent Devices
Using Satellite Navigation
for Railway Transport
Anatoly Levchenkov, Mikhail Gorobetz and Andrew Mor-Yaroslavtsev
1. Introduction
Nowadays, the most widely spread type of a computer is an embedded system. The
embedded systems consist of the following hardware (i.e. nano-electronic components)
programmable microcontrollers or microprocessors; transmitters, including the receivers of
global positioning information systems, which demonstrate the state and measuring
parameters of a controlled object, and which relay that to the programmable
microcontroller; actuators, which receive a signal from the programmed microcontroller and
relay it to an antenna, a display or an electro-drive device; and communication devices,
including wireless communication with other devices and the software with algorithms of
artificial intelligence (Russel, Norvig, 2006).
Railway traffic flow is limited by safety criteria. Therefore, routing and scheduling task is
actual for a railway transport. As well an optimal braking control and safety of braking
process are very important (Luo, Zeng, 2009). The analysis of human behavior and
simulation of trains braking are investigated (Hasegawa et al., 2009). An intelligent
transport control system gives a possibility to make traffic control safer and more costeffective (Gorobetz, 2008). It may find an optimal solution to a conflict faster than a human
as a decision support system (Levchenkov et al., 2009). In addition in case of emergency it
may prevent crashes and accidents without human intervention.
Authors propose the intelligent braking control device, which warns the driver about the
necessity of starting the working braking, taking into account the signal of the traffic light. If
working braking has not been started the controller activates emergency brakes with a
purpose to stop before the beginning of the next block-section if it is possible, or to choose a
free way with enough free distance to stop without a crash. The primary task of the
diagnostics device is to separate dangerous situations in braking system by critical values of
sensor measurements from the regular states of the system, to detect and to warn about
changes in the system and to prevent emergencies immediately. The system allows stopping
the train timely before the problem has occurred.
396
2. Problem formulation
Railway safety is an actual and important task. Nowadays a human factor is the main reason for
74% of railway accidents and crashes. This problem is actual as in Latvia as all over the world.
Various crashes like in Riga (Latvia) in February 2005, in Ventspils (Latvia) in December 2008, in
Aegvidu (Estonia) in December 2010, in Brussels (Belgium) in February 2010, in Magdeburg
(Germany) in January 2011 prove the necessity of finding the problem solution.
The main reason of railway accidents is a human factor, when
-
to help a train driver and station signalmen to make the best decision faster
to prevent accidents if a human does not react
receiving location and other necessary data from satellite navigation system
reception of the data from the server about railway infrastructure (tracks, points) and
control points (signals, section points) in the location of the train;
selecting the necessary signal on the way;
establishing the wireless connection with the selected signal (Fig. 2.)
397
Fig. 3. Detection of the safest state of the station points to avoid the collision.
a) Initial state, b) Collision is possible, c) Collision is avoided.
There are many embedded transport control systems on the market which are designed to
provide safety for a vehicle, its passengers or cargo, and other traffic participants.
398
In the commercial railway transport segment an example of such a safety system is KLUB-U,
currently used on Russian Railways. It is installed in the locomotives and by interacting
with existing signaling systems and its own modules provides information about the trains
and its closest neighbors coordinates, diagnostics of the brakes, current railway segment
profile and maximum allowed speed, and controls the vigilance of the locomotive driver.
Still, despite the wide array of features, it lacks automation and many decisions require
manual operation.
A significant component of the whole safety system is the circuits, engines and brakes
diagnostics complex. While the most complete diagnostics can be performed only in the
technical service environment, most failures can be detected during its operation using circuit
integrity indicators and different sensors designed to uncover electrical mechanical damage.
All kinds of damages which could lead to failures can be combined into distinctive value
sets, thus recognizing them in the stream of incoming data allows early identification of
problems in the engine.
Artificial immune systems (AIS) were mentioned in some papers in mid 1980s but became a
subject in its own right in 1994 in the papers on negative selection (Forrest et al., 1994,
Kephart, 1994). Currently the systems are actively explored for possible use cases. For
example, there are studies on a real-valued negative selection algorithm for an aircraft fault
detection (Dasgupta et al., 2004).
399
or degree of binding between the antigen and the antibody is similar to complementarity level
in biological IS and it defines the fate of each individual antibody as well as the termination of
the whole algorithm. Individual antibodies are replaced, cloned and hypermutated until a
satisfactory level of affinity is reached. Partial replacement of the solutions population with
fresh randomly generated candidates maintains diversity which allows solving a wider set of
problems. The probability of cloning or hypermutating a candidate depends on its affinity.
Fig. 4. Wireless network structures scheme of embedded devices for a rail transport
In the rolling stock safety system (Fig. 5) (Mor-Yaroslavtsev, Levchenkov, 2011), the
invading object I is picked up by sensors S and the data is transmitted to the nearest cell
400
tower CT, which relays it to the control center CC and the nearest locomotives wireless
modems M. Through the same modem the locomotive L receives data about the closest
neighbors rolling stock position and status, railway segment profile and maximum allowed
speed.
S satellite;
M base station;
R receiver.
401
e 1 (b / a)2 ,
(1)
(2)
(3)
402
(4)
where m , sat - satellite apparatus error, satellite clock error, m ,con - control error, incorrect
ephemerid forecast, m , rec - receivers error, ionosphere, troposphere and other noises, tm base station clock deviation from satellite clock, c - light speed.
-
(5)
The model of the station may be described with the following sets of objects:
-
(6)
403
where ST is the braking distance, Sp distance of moving during the preparation of braking
system, SD real braking distance
The braking power of the train should be defined taking into account a real force of the
braking chock influencing the train wheels. A real friction factor depends on the braking
chock material.
The following factor characterises the braking chock made of cast iron:
K = 0,6
(7)
The cast iron braking chocks containing phosphorus of 1,0-1,4% are characterised with the
factor
The mentioned above factor for braking chocks of composite materials can be defined with
the following expression :
K = 0,44
K + 20
v + 100
4K + 100 2v + 100 ;
(8)
The calculations of braking force of the chocks also depend on a type of chocks.
For the standard cast iron braking chocks:
K P = 2,22K
16K + 100
;
80K + 100
(9)
16K + 100
;
52K + 100
(10)
K + 20
;
4K + 20
(11)
PO
KP
Q Pu
(12)
(13)
404
(14)
Cargo carriages:
w0c = 7 +
a + v + 0,025v 2 ;
q0
(15)
Passenger trains:
w0c = 12 + 0,12v + 0,002v 2 .
(16)
As within the time interval t the braking force and the opposite self-resistive force Ox to
the motion of the train are assumed as constant values then the increasing of the speed can
be calculated according to :
v =
bT + Ox + ic t
3600
(17)
L
; where: L is the length
tt
of the train; tt time from the moment when the driver turns the handle of the hoist till the
pressure appears (?) in the braking cylinders; air wave : vv 20 T ; where: T = 273 + t C absolute temperature of gas.
The preparation braking distance:
SP = 0,278v0t p =
v0tn .
3,6
(18)
2
500 vN
vK2
wox + bm + iC
(19)
ST =
2
500 vN
vK2
v0tn
+
3,6
wox + bm + iC
(20)
Rail ways can be represented as a graph R {C , S} , where rails are divided into sections S,
and each section s S is connected with each other by two connectors s ci , c j .
Each section s S has a constant length ls , a curve as , and a speed limit v *s .
405
Each point p C has a connecting set W of three or more sections and a set of possible states
of point Dp , where dpn si , s j means opened in both directions from si to s j and from s j
to si is following for different point types:
single point: Dp { si , s j , si , sk } ;
dual point: Dp { si , s j , si , sk , si , sm } ;
cross point: Dp { si , s j , si , sk , sm , s j , sm , sk } .
Each state of point dp Dp has a speed limit v * dp ; maximal each points dp Dp switching
time: tdp .
Railway signal G is an object with fixed coordinates x0, y0 connected to the fixed position on
the track.
Each signal g G has the following states of signals Lg { R , Y , YG , G ,V , W } , where R
red, and rolling stock must stop before the signal; Y yellow, can move and be ready to
stop, the next signal is red; YG yellow and green, next two sections are free; G green,
V violet, W moonlight white.
Each signal sets up speed limits for the next block-section: vdef - maximal predefined speed on
the section, v0 - 0 kmh, stop; v1 - < 50 kmh, movement on turnouts 1/9 and 1/11 types; v2 - < 80
kmh for movement on turnout 1/18 type; v3 - < 120kmh for movement on turnout 1/22 type.
4.5 Assessment functions
DL S 0
CL (t ) *
EL dt const
{0, C 1 , C 2 ,...}
|(t ) (t )|
(t ) { , S , , t , , I , Q }
p B i m
dcp
v
(t ) { f , S f , f , t f , f , I f , Q f }
m
v
B i
dcp
(21)
S distance between the closed section and rolling stock danger level criteria (DL)
(t) deceleration of rolling stock
* optimal deceleration for passengers comfort level criteria (CL)
d /dt changes of deceleration and braking torque optimal energy consumption
criteria (EL)
406
The routing task for accident prevention consists of a generation of a new route and
schedule for rolling stocks V moving on points P.
The target function for scheduling and routing is to arrange points for each train to reach a
destination and assigning of time moments t to each train and each point.
The target function for an optimal point state on the station is the following:
T f (t1 , t2 ,..., tn ; x11 , x12 ,..., x1q ; ... xn1 , xn 2 ,..., xnq ) min
(22)
Step 0. Initialization
Ti sum = 0 for each i-th train summary time
Gi = 0, for each i-th train goal achievement
i = 1 selected train number
Step 1. Moving the time calculation of the i-th train on the j-th railway section, t ij S j / vi
where
Sj length of the j-th section,
vi current i-th train speed
Step 2. Check if the j-th section ends with signal.
Step 2.1. Check the occupancy of all tracks to the next signal.
Step 2.2. If any of sections in Step 2.1 is busy and the train is moving, then recalculate time
with braking conditions and Goto 4.
Sbi
407
vi2
S
v
; Sr S j Sb ; tr r ; tb ; t ij tr tb ; vi 0
vi
Step 2.3. If train is already stopped then check If all sections in Step 2.1 are free, then
recalculate time with acceleration conditions
Step 2.4. j = j + 1, select next section of the route
else if the j-th section is not a signal then j = j + 1, select the next section of the route
Step 3. Check if the train reached the goal, then Gi = 1
1
2
n
, TSUM
,..., TSUM
)
Step 3.1. Check if all trains reached the goal then T max(TSUM
k
1
2
n
i
t p then TSUM
min(TSUM
, TSUM
,..., TSUM
)
Step 5.1. If TSUM
A genetic algorithm for the task solution may be described with the following steps.
1 step: Initialize random set of possible solutions: S ( 0 ) {s1( 0 ) , s 2( 0 ) ,..., s s( 0 ) } ;
max
2 step: Evaluate each solution with a target function: V S {F ( s1 ), F ( s2 ),..., F ( s p )} ;
3 step: Arrange solutions by evaluation: S {s1 , s 2 ,..., s p }, F ( s1 ) opt (V S ) ;
4 step: Duplicate the best solutions in the elite set: S E S ;
5 step: Selection. Select from the set of solution pairs according to the defined selection:
SC S ;
6 step: Crossover: Generate a new population from the set of the solution pair according to
the defined crossover algorithm:
408
(23)
7 step: Mutation: Random change of one of solution parameter that helps to find a global
optimum of the function:
(24)
(25)
(26)
10 step: Add the new population of solution to the elite set: S ( S E S ' );
11 step: Delete the last solutions from the population S if its size exceeds predefined
population size p: S S /{s p1 , s p 2| ,...} ;
12 step: Algorithm stops by time, generation, convergence or by another predefined criteria.
If stop criteria is false then repeat the algorithm from step 4. If true then the result of the
algorithm is solution s1.
5.3 Algorithm for an artificial immune system
5.3.1 Shape-space concept
AIS are modeled after biological IS and carry the terms of antigens and antibodies. They can
be modeled using the shape-space concept (see Fig. 8.) (Musilek et al., 2009). The shapespace S allows defining antigens, receptors and their interactions in a quantitative way.
409
DM ( Ag , Ab ) p | Agi Abi |p
i 1
By varying the value of the parameter p a suitable measure of distance can be obtained.
5.3.2 The negative selection algorithm
Negative selection is the paradigm describing the evolution of the T-lymphocytes where
they are randomly generated and learn to recognize all except the self structures, specific to
the host. Negative selection algorithms need training samples only from one class (self,
normal), thus, they are especially suited for the tasks such as novelty, anomaly or change
detection including those in engines and other devices.
The key advantage of anomaly detection systems is their ability to detect novel attack
patterns for which no signature exists, while their most notable disadvantage is a larger false
positive rate.
The algorithm:
Step 1. Define a set S which needs to be monitored and the set P of the know self
m m1 , m2 ,..., mL S L elements in a feature space U. The set U corresponds to all the
possible system states, P normal states and S the current state which changes in time.
Step 2. Generate a set of candidate detectors C = {c1, c2, , cn }.
Step 3. Compare each candidate ci to the set of known good elements P.
Step 4. If a match occurs, discard the individual ci, otherwise store it in the mature detector
set D. Or, to maximize the nonself space coverage with a minimum number of detectors,
move the matched candidate away from the closest element pj, then store it in D.
Step 5. Monitor S for changes by continually matching it against the detectors in D. If any
detector matches, the change which has occurred most likely is dangerous, as D is designed
not to match any normal system state.
This algorithm produces a set of the detectors capable to recognize non-self patterns. The
action following the recognition varies according to the problem under consideration. In the
case of transport safety control system it could be an alarm or issue of an immediate stop
signal depending on the detected fault.
The detectors and the caught fault conditions are stored in an immune memory for further
processing and to provide further information about the consequences of the attack and
possible future actions instead of simply reporting the incidents.
6. Computer experiments
6.1 Computer experiment of genetic algorithm
The task of the experiment is to minimize idle time of trains on the station and to minimize
the risk of their collision.
410
The station (Fig. 9.) with 4 points p1, p2, p3, p4 is given and two trains V1 and V2 are
approaching. Railway tracks of the station are split into the sections, where start and end
of each section is a point or a signal. The length of the trains Lv1 = 500 m and Lv2 = 300 m
is given.
a)
b)
Table 1. shows the dynamics of genetic algorithm. The algorithm is performed in 2 seconds
and the algorithm converges completely in the 12th generation, where an average value of
the population is equal with the best value.
Generation
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Average
88087.15753678
82128.38630517
70197.754252487
50320.950968194
32391.38814628
26405.504351969
14391.055583579
2366.4284573351
2332.525484097
329.57671570692
307.08794731682
270
411
Best
610.47947316824
413.47947316824
270
270
270
270
270
270
270
270
270
270
One data set for the experiment was taken from the two PLCs in the field attached to a
vehicle and a level crossing. The data collection scheme is presented in Fig. 11.
412
The RNS detector generation starts with a population of candidate detectors, which are then
matured through an iterative process. In particular, the center of each detector is chosen at
random and the radius is a variable parameter which determines the size of the detector in
m-dimensional space. The basic algorithmic steps of the generation algorithm are given in
5.3.2.
The whole detector generation process terminates when a set of mature (minimum
overlapping) detectors are evolved which can provide significant coverage of the non-self
space.
A detector is defined as d = (c, rd), where c = (c1, c2, , cm) is an m-dimensional point that
corresponds to the center of a hypersphere with rd as its radius. The following parameters
are used (Fig. 12):
Fig. 12. A screenshot from the computer program running a real-valued negative selection
algorithm showing the initial settings for training the detector set.
During the straightforward detection process the matured detectors are continually
compared to new test data samples. The distance D between a sample pattern p = (cp, rs) and
a detector d = (cd, rd) is computed in the same way as in the detector generation phase. If
D < (rs + rd) then the detector d gets activated indicating possible fault.
413
Fig. 14. The fourth generation of detectors after running several suppressions.
Fig. 15. Test runs with a sample of antigens on each detector generation with detection results.
414
The testing of the algorithms on a 2-dimentional space proves that the detectors show
good coverage of the non-self space and a stable detection of non-self antigens. Fig. 13.
shows the coordinates, radii, overlap and detection score of the first detector generation.
The population should stay the same but after 3 generations the detector population
decreased (Fig. 14.) but still detected the pathogens (Fig. 15). The chosen actions did not
differ much probably because of the implementation which needs further research and
improvement.
6.3 Computer simulation of the railway station
For the experiments the program for programmable controller was implemented. The controller
performs all the calculations and controls the electric drive and traffic lights on the functional
prototype.
The computer model is created to show the results of controllers operations to perform an
emergency stop before the red signal of the traffic lights.
The specific environment is developed by the authors for the modelling of railway system
for safety improving algorithms (Fig. 16).
The data from the specific memory addresses of the controller is read by the server (Fig. 17.)
and transferred to the model.
415
416
Fig. 19. Fragment of the electrical part of the computer model of the rolling stock
The current experiment is proposed for modelling of crash prevention of two trains moving
towards each other. The model consists of 3 series block-sections; 2 rolling stocks; 4 railway
signals (Fig. 18.).
Each rolling stock and signal is equipped with receiving and transmitting devices that give a
possibility in a multi-agent system.
Electrical part of the model (Fig. 19.) consists of a DC drive with characteristics of 8 DC
motors, 1 switch to connect or disconnect the electric drive from the electric contact network,
and 2 pairs of switches for acceleration and for braking that changes direction of field
current If flow. A braking branch contains braking resistance. An output of a DC drive is an
electrical torque which handles the mechanical part of a rolling stock.
417
regular braking evaluates whether the regular braking is started. The device warns the
driver about the necessity of starting process of the emergency braking taking into account
the signal of the traffic light and speed limitation and allows to perform an automatic
operation of the emergency braking in time and stops the train preventing trains collision at
any sector of a railway.
Fig. 20. presents the demonstration of this device that can be installed on the train. Two
traffic lights; the electric motor; sensors and wireless communication equipment are
installed on the demonstrator.
According to the traffic light signal the controller selects the appropriate engine speed.
When the red light is on, the control system automatically stops the engine. In response to
the light sensor, the control unit in addition to the fan is turned on and switches to another
mode of operation. Remote monitoring and control of the processes is possible using
wireless communication. In a real system, it could be dispatching control centres, from
which it is possible to switch both signals and also take over control of the train speed.
Taking into account the pieces of advice and the recommendations from the State joint stock
company Latvian Railways (Latvijas Dzelzce/LDz) specialists, the prototypes of the
locomotive and the signal devices have been created. Both inventions were issued Latvian
and International Patents No. LV13978 B, LV14156 B, LV14187 B, WO 2011/115466 A2,
PCT/EP2011/067474.
Fig. 20. Functional prototype and information screen with satellite navigation data
The authors and the LDz staff had tested the prototypes of the devices in real service
conditions. A non-busy section of the railway was chosen to play the role of a proving ground.
During the experiment all the devices were working steadily and without troubles, thus the
experiment proved that the ideas adopted in the devices can be implemented into practice.
The task of the locomotives embedded SAFE-R 3 device and the traffic lights embedded
SAFE-R 4 device, which was designed by the RTU and LDz, is to stop the train
automatically at the restrictive signal of the traffic lights, in those cases when a driver does
not react to this restrictive signal. It is provided that these devices will also work in
unencoded railway sections, where the automatic locomotive signalling did not work.
418
8. Conclusions
Advantages of the proposed device are the following: The device is not using rail circuits
and works independently of automatic locomotive signalization system. The proposed
device is an alternative or auxiliary to existing safety systems. As opposed to existing
systems the new device uses wireless communication network and may work in railway
sections without an automatic interlocking system. The possibility to prevent a dangerous
situation and a crash corresponding to the condition of the braking system of rolling stock
allows stopping the train before dangerous failure time point; possibility of using of already
existing measurement devices and sensors together with the new sensors.
The results of the experiment show the possibility to use the proposed system as an
auxiliary safety device to prevent breaches of red signal and crashes on the railway.
The most relevant features of immune algorithms are self-learning, diversity maintenance,
memory about the past decisions, and detection of previously unknown but related
elements, noise rejection and classifying ability.
An intelligent rolling stock safety control system could benefit from using a combination of
both an immune negative selection algorithm and a clonal selection algorithm. A fault
detection system for railway electric transport could benefit from using an immune negative
selection algorithm.
The most feasible way to implement a railway electric transport safety control system would
be through the two phases of anomaly detection and determination of their type to draw a
conclusion about further action.
Single string data encoding is better suited for use on PLC. The PLC program needs a data
buffer to eliminate the risk of data loss due to unstable radio signal.
The authors need to assess the possibility to run the data analysis using these algorithms in
real time. The detector maturation and control cell selection processes need improvement.
9. References
Russel S. J., Norvig P.. Artificial Intelligence. A Modern Approach, 2 edition. Prentice Hall,
2006, 1408p.
Luo R., Zeng J. Computer simulation of railway train braking and anti-sliding control. //In
Proceedings of 21st International Symposium on Dynamics of Vehicles on Roads
and Tracks (IAVSD09), 2009 189 p.
Hasegawa Y., Tsunashima H., Marumo Y., Kojima T. Detection of unusual braking behavior
of train driver //In Proceedings of 21st International Symposium on Dynamics of
Vehicles on Roads and Tracks (IAVSD09), 2009 166 p.
Gorobetz M. Research of Genetic Algorithms for Optimal Control of Electric Transport.
Promotional thesis. Riga, 2008 - 189 p.
Levchenkov ., Gorobetz ., Ribickis L., Balckars P. Generating of Multi-Criteria
Alternatives for Decision-Making in Electric Light Rail Control //In China-USA
Business review, December 2009, pp. 49-55.
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Forrest S., Perelson A.S., Allen L., Cherukuri R. Self-nonself discrimination in a computer. In
proceedings of the 1994 IEEE Symposium on Research in Security and Privacy. Los
Alamitos, CA.
Kephart J.O.. A biologically inspired immune system for computers. In proceedings of
Artificial Life IV: The Fourth International Workshop on the Synthesis and
Simulation of Living Systems, 1994. MIT Press.
Dasgupta D., Krishna Kumar K., Wong D., Berry M.. Negative Selection Algorithm for
Aircraft Fault Detection. In proceedings of ICARIS 2004.
Mor-Yaroslavtsev A., Levchenkov A. Rolling Stock Location Data Analysis Using an
Immune Algorithm on an Intelligent Embedded Device. // In proceedings of 19th
Telecommunications Forum TELFOR 2011.
Powers S. T., He J.. A hybrid artificial immune system and Self Organising Map for network
intrusion detection. Elsevier IS 179, 2009.
Musilek P., Lau A., Reformat M., Wyard-Scott L.. Immune Programming. Elsevier IS 179,
2009.
Gorobetz M., Alps I., Levchenkov A.. Mathematical Formulation of Public Electric Transport
Scheduling Task for Artificial Immune Systems. Proceedings of ITELMS 2009,
Kaunas.
Masutti, T. A. S. Castro L. N. de. A self-organizing neural network using ideas from the
immune system to solve the traveling salesman problem. Elsevier IS 179, 2009.
Tavakkoli-Moghaddam R., Rahimi-Vahed A., Mirzaei A. H.. A hybrid multi-objective
immune algorithm for a flow shop scheduling problem with bi-objectives:
Weighted mean completion time and weighted mean tardiness. Elsevier IS 179,
2009.
PCT/EP2011/067474. Device for Safe Passing of Motor Vehicle over Level Crossings
Using Satellite Navigation Systems. A.evenkovs, M.Gorobecs, I.Rais,
L.Ribickis, P.Balckars, A.Potapovs, I.Alps, I.Korago, V.Vinokurovs, 6.10.2011.
(26.07.2011.)
WO 2011/115466 A2, (PCT/LV2011/000004) Controlling Device of Railway Track Sections.
A.evenkovs, M.Gorobecs, J.Greivulis, P.Balckars, L.Ribickis, I.Korago,
A.Bobeko. 22.09.2011. (17.03.2010.)
Patent application Nr. P-11-102. Device for Safe Passing of Motor Vehicle over Level
Crossings Using Satellite Navigation Systems. A.evenkovs, M.Gorobecs,
I.Rais, L.Ribickis, P.Balckars, A.Potapovs, I.Alps, I.Korago, V.Vinokurovs,
26.07.2011.
Patent application Nr. P-11-76. Train anticollision device with satellite navigation.
A.evenkovs, M.Gorobecs, I.Rais, L.Ribickis, P.Balckars, A.Potapovs,
23.05.2011.
Patent Nr. LV13978 B. Train Emergency Braking Device. Gorobecs M., Greivulis J.,
evenkovs A., Balckars P., Ribickis L. 14.05.2009.
Patent Nr. LV 14156 B. Controlling Device of Railway Track Sections. A.evenkovs,
M.Gorobecs, J.Greivulis, P.Balckars, L.Ribickis, I.Korago, A.Bobeko.
17.03.2010.
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17
Study and Design of an Electro Technical
Device for Safety on Railway Network
Clavel Edith, Meunier Grard, Bellon Marc and Frugier Didier
1. Introduction
The security on the railway network is a real important challenge since today, the number of
trains is growing and the saturation of the network is close to be reached.
In this chapter, an electrical system is presented in order to improve the electrical
detection of trains on the network and correctly manage the lights. That is how security is
ensured.
In the next section, the context of the study is presented. The management of lights on
network is explained to emphasize the possible trouble which may occur.
The third part deals with the electrical system which is experimented by the French National
Railway Company to overcome this problem. The way it works and its main characteristics
will be detailed.
In order to base the further developments of this solution not only on experiments, a
modeling process is presented in the following part. For other industrial fields, it has proved
to be efficient and its use in the case of a railway system seems possible.
In order to validate the modeling approach, an experimental set is developed since it is very
difficult to make measurements in situ. It will be presented in the fifth part of this chapter.
Finally in a last section, the results of the modeling process are successfully compared to the
measures.
The outlook of improving the studied system is important since the impact of some
dimensional parameters on its performances is analyzed whether being geometrical or
physical parameters.
422
light becomes red . When the train penetrates into the following section, its signal turns to
a red light, while the signal of the first section becomes yellow. When the train penetrates
into the third section, its signal indicates a red light. The signal of the second section gives
the indication yellow, and the signal of the first section gives the indication that the way is
clear by a green light. So if a train is stopped in a section, the following train will meet a
yellow light announcing to the driver that the following light is red. He will have to reduce
the speed of the train to be able to stop if necessary. This is illustrated of Fig. 1.
As said before, an electrical system is used to guarantee this security working. It is
constituted by:
-
A generator connected to one of the extremities of the isolated section and which
imposes a difference of potential between the two rails,
A receptor connected to the other extremity of the isolated section which measures the
difference of potential between the two rails,
A transmission line which is electrically limited to the extremities of the considered
section.
The generator sends a coded signal through the electric circuit constituted by the rails and
the receptor. When the zone included between the generator and the receptor is free, the
receptor is able to detect the coded signal: the way is then considered free. When a train
enters this section, a great part of current is derived by wheels and axles (what we call
shuntage); the receptor does not receive this coded signal coming from the generator
anymore: the way is then considered busy. Such a device is thus able to detect the presence
of trains on a section by the change of the impedance value of the circuit between the rails.
When a train is on a section, the rails are short-circuited by the train and the group wheels,
axles, rails 1 and 2 have lower impedance. So the measure of the voltage drop at the receptor
implies a busy section. This change of electrical circuit is illustrated on Fig. 2.
423
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
Generator
Free way
Receiver
R
i
Busy way
R
Fig. 2. The principle of the detecting electrical system
In the case of the electrified lines, which represent 90 % of the French network, rails are very
often used to ensure the return of drive current towards the substations. Drive currents are
about 1000A. And they have to coexist with currents of 1A from the detecting electrical
system.
In order to be able to easily separate these two currents, the kind of current inside the
detecting system depends on the electrified lines. In the case of DC lines, alternative currents
are used for the detecting electrical system and in the case of alternative power supply
different frequencies are used for the detecting circuit. In that case, the insulation between
two detecting systems is carried out using inductive connections which allow the return of
the drive current.
Current of the detecting circuits can be modulated with various frequencies, which can be
detected by equipments on board the trains to give to the drivers all the indications in the
cabin. This principle of the transmission between the way and the machine is used in the
famous French High Speed Train (TGV).
Sometimes, the short circuit between wheels and rails is not of good quality. This is the case
of weak machines, parts of the railway network rarely used, bad wheel/rail contact due to
insulating body. So errors of detection by the system can lead to dangerous situations. The
light is green even if there is a train in the section. If a more rapid train arrives, an accident
could occur.
As a consequence, in order to be sure that the signal is well interrupted by the train on a
section, the French National Railway Company (SNCF) has added an electrical device which
will be described in the following part.
424
This last solution has been generally adopted. This can be made by cleaning the rails. A
special accessory has been designed to scrape the rails.
But another way to improve the contact is to help the short circuit created by the wheels and
the rails to be efficient by adding an electrical device.
This last option is the topic of this paper.
3.1 Working principle of the inductive loop
The principle of the proposed device is to create a voltage drop of sufficient level in order to
make possible a current to flow. This is done by an inductive loop able to induce in the
wheels/axles/rails circuit a current of sufficient value.
The proposed device is presented on Fig. 3. It is constituted by:
This loop is in fact the primary circuit of a transformer. The secondary part is constituted by
the axles and the rails. The current induced by the loop flows through the axles and the rails
and must be high enough to guarantee the electrical contact between the wheels and the
rails. During a bad contact rail / wheel, the secondary circuit of the transformer is open and
an induced voltage appears between the wheel and the rail and establishes again the
electrical contact insuring the shuntage.
The chariot near the inductive loop constitutes a third circuit of the transformer which can
reduce the value of the current inside the axles rails circuit.
Capacitor
Inductive
Loop
Chariot
Axles + Rails
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
425
the surface of the loop is limited by the space under the train,
the height of the loop is limited by the distance between the train and the rails,
leakage currents are flowing inside the metallic structure.
In practice, the environment of the loop changes (shunt, ballast, metallic parts ) and the
value of the inductance of the loop changes too. So the resonance frequency is modified. In
order to avoid this, it is necessary to continuously adjust the frequency so that the current is
sufficient inside the loop.
In order to perform this, a Phase-locked loop (PLL) is used.
Thanks to three electronic cards, every change of frequency is detected and automatically
compensated:
-
a ALIM card allows the galvanic insulation and adapts the voltage which supplies the
system (24V),
a BIAS card controls the value of 147kHz,
a TFER card is a controlled amplifier for the BIAS card.
In order to reach an optimal design of the loop, experiments are not sufficient.
A modeling process has to be run in order to take into account all the requirements and
desired performances.
This is the aim of the following part: to present a modeling approach.
4. Modeling method
As said before, the aim of the modeling process is to be able to evaluate the voltage and
current in the studied structure. This implies to solve the Maxwells equations
and to establish an electrical equivalent circuit on which the circuit equations could be
426
solved. In the field of electromagnetic approach, two families of modeling methods are
facing:
-
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
427
The mains equations will be detailed in the following paragraph to obtain the equation (13)
which is the base to establish the electrical equivalent circuit.
In order to easily solve the equation (13) for each considered part, the most important
assumption is that current density is uniform. But according the frequency and geometry of
the studied structure, skin and proximity effects have to be taken into account during the
modeling. So in a first step, all the conductors of the studied structure have to be meshed so
that the current density is uniform inside each mesh.
Moreover, as presented in (13), relative permeability r is assumed to be equal 1. Otherwise
further developments of PEEC method are presented and detailed in (Aim et al., 2009b)
and (Kradec et al., 2005) in order to take into account magnetic material influence on
current distribution.
Finally no propagation aspect is considered for this first presentation. Otherwise, another
modeling method has to be applied such as rPEEC or transmission lines approach (Antonini
et al., 2007) and (Clavel et al., 2007).
4.2.2 Equations and associated model
The problem can be better formalized by considering the integral form of the Maxwells
equations and by assuming:
-
quasi-static conditions;
only surface location for the free-charges ;
uniform and constant currents I in each volume element of conductors;
constant material conductivity,
vacuum permeability 0 surrounding the objects;
a homogeneous medium of permittivity = r 0;
negligible losses in dielectric materials.
(1)
rotE jB
(2)
divB 0
(3)
B 0 .H
(4)
J E
(5)
B rotA
(6)
E j A gradV
(7)
A 0 J
(8)
428
(9)
r d
(10)
where J is current density and r the distance between the integration point and P.
Taking (5) and (10) in (9) gives (11):
J( P )
r d gradVext
(11)
In order to reach the desired model, it is necessary to suppose a uniform current density. For
that, the volume c is divided into m elementary conductors. On each elementary
conductor, (12) is written:
(12)
J k J0 k .I k
J0k is the electrokinetic solution for a 1A current.
Multiplying (11) by J0k, it comes (13):
c k
J0 k
Jk
dc k j
0
4
c k
c k
ci
(13)
From (13), the electrical equivalent circuit of a conductor can be deduced (Fig. 4) (Ruehli &
Cangellaris, 2001).
(12) inside the first term of (13) gives (14):
J0 k
c k
Jk
dc k
Ik
J02 k .dc k
(14)
c k
c k
J 02 k .dc k Rk
(15)
Jk
(16)
c k
J0 k
dc k Rk .I k
429
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
B
j 0k
B
Rk
Lk
A
Fig. 4. kth element of the conductor
Introducing the mutual inductance between two elementary conductors k and i (17), the
second term of (13) leads to (18).
Lki
0
4
0
4
c k c i
J0 k .J 0 i
dci dc k
r
m
J .I
J0 k 0 l i dci dc k j Lkl .I l
i 1 c r
l 1
c k
i
(17)
(18)
Concerning the term on the right of (13) the following equations can be established
assuming the electrokinetic solution gives divJ 0 0 :
div(V .J0 k ) J0 k .gradV V .divJ 0
J0 k gradVext .d k
c k
div(Vext .J0 k )d k
Vext .J0 k .n k .d k
(20)
J 0 k .n k 0
(21)
(22)
with
c k
(19)
is the edge of volume ck; n k is the normal vector oriented towards the exterior of
J0 k gradVext .dc k U k
(23)
c k
Rk .I k j Lki .I i U k
i 1
(24)
430
So each term of (13) leads to an electrical characteristic of conductor which is only function
of its geometry.
To compute the parasitic resistance Ri in each volume element Vi of length i, section Si, and
resistivity , the following analytical formula is used:
Ri
li
Si
(25)
Because of the parallelepiped shape of the elements the double integral in (17) can be
expressed in an analytical form and easily computed. For the case of parallel elements, the
mutual inductances Mij are computed thanks to an analytical expression. And for the
general case presented on Fig. 5, the expressions (26) can be used either to evaluate Mij but
also partial inductance Li if a=d, b=c, l1=L2 and E=p=l3=0 (Hoer & Love, 1965). If elements
are not parallel an analytical/numerical integration technique is used (an analytical
expression for the first integral is used, the second one being computed thanks to an
adaptive gauss point integration ensuring a good accuracy). All values of Li and Mij can then
be organized in a dense and square matrix [L-M] whose size is equal to the number of mesh
elements (Aim et al., 2007).
y
E
l1
l3
I1
b
z
c
a
I2
l2
d
Fig. 5. General case of parallel elements for the evaluations of Mij
E d , E a p c , p b l 3 l 2 , l 3 l1
Mij f x , y , z x y z
p c b , p l 3 l 2 l 1, l 3
E d a , E
x1 , x3 y1 , y 3 z1 , z3
4 4 4
i j k1
f x , y , z x y z 1
f x i , y j , zk
y 2 , y 4 z2 , z 4 i 1 j 1 k 1
x2 , x 4
(26)
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
431
y 2 z2 y 4 z 4
x ln x x 2 y 2 z2
24 24
4
2 2
4
4
x
z
x z
2
2
2
y
y
x
y
z
ln
24
24
y2x2 y 4 x4
z ln z x 2 y 2 z2
24 24
1 4
f x, y , z 0
4. a.b.c.d 1 4
x y 4 z 4 3 y 2 x 2 3 y 2 z 2 3x 2 z 2 x 2 y 2 z 2
60
3
3
xy
xy z
xz
xyz Arctan
tan
Arc
6
2
2
2
2
2
2
6
z x y z
y x y z
x
yz
zy
Arctan
2
2
2
6
x
x
y
z
The evaluation of the electrical equivalent circuit of the meshed structure has been
implemented into the dedicated software InCa3D which offers a robust and fast solver
combined to a user friendly and efficient graphical interface.
For simple shapes of elements, analytical formulations (25) and (26) are used. But if the
geometrical configuration is more complex, a numerical technique is used to find the values
of the equivalent circuit.
4.2.3 Meshing techniques
432
In the case of very thin and large conductors such as sheet of copper, ground plane, the 1D
current assumption is no more valid. Indeed current is generally flowing in a plane so that a
2D approximation can be sufficient in order to properly describe the physical phenomenon.
Two quadrate directions for current inside the conductor are defined. So the developed 2D
meshing technique consists in dividing the plane as presented on Fig. 7.
1D element
2D element
Fig. 9. R-L-M electrical equivalent circuit for 1D and 2D elements (mutual inductances are
not represented on the figure)
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
433
On Fig. 10, the modeling process of every kind of electrical structure is detailed.
It consists of four steps:
-
Geometry description from designers data or directly imported from CAD tools,
Meshing according the appropriated assumption for the current,
Solving the equations to obtain the electrical equivalent circuit,
Circuit solving.
For the studied case, the unknowns are the currents inside the equivalent circuit. For that
purpose it is necessary to describe the electrical environment of the problem in order to
solve the right circuit equations. This last step can be achieved in a circuit solver like
SPICE or Portunus exporting automatically the equivalent circuit inside these tools. But
the size of the equivalent circuit is linked to the number of meshes and can be too big for
these tools. Moreover it is not necessary to keep the information of local current inside each
mesh. What is interesting is the global current inside the conductors. So a reduced
equivalent circuit is better appropriated for this goal. To that aim, the user has to clearly
identify the outputs of each conductor and then using parallel and series associations, the
equivalent impedance between these points can be evaluated for each frequency. This
reduced circuit is afterwards more practical in order to evaluate all necessary currents and
voltages. Even if it is frequency dependent, a time simulation can be efficiently done.
Indeed, according the frequency range, this dependence can be negligible and if not,
numerical techniques to find a non dependent circuit with more components exist (Tan &
He, 2007).
434
This proposed modeling process has proved to be very efficient not only for high current
electrical systems (Gonnet et al., 2004) but also power electronics devices and structures
(Aim et al., 2009a), electronic card (Clavel et al., 2007a), PCB application (Vialardi et al.,
2010) and aircraft structures (Jazzar et al., 2011).
Chariot
Inductive loop
Rails + axles
Fig. 11. The experimental system
255 mm
185 mm
1535 mm
Inductive Loop
1535 mm
Chariot
2060 mm
30 mm
1675 mm
current inside the chariot (so the cross section has been locally reduced in order to insert
a current probe);
current inside the inductive loop;
voltage drop between the wheel and the rails (Urw).
435
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
Different configurations have been tested and for each of them maximum data have been
measured:
-
For each of them open circuit and short circuit measurements have been made.
Chariot
A
Wheel
i-rail
Rail
V
A
Urw
i-loop
Axles
A
Inductive loop
i_chariot
Voltage
source
Wheel
Current measure
436
L.I.
R.I
Fig. 15. Fresnels diagram for the evaluation of equivalent circuit
V cos( )
R
I
V .sin( )
L
2 f .I
(27)
The second configuration is very close to the classical case of two coupled inductances like a
simple transformer. The first one is supplied with an alternative source and an induced
current (short-circuit situation) or voltage (open circuit situation) is created on the second
one (Fig. 16).
The theoretical study is briefly reminded in the following equations (28) with only one turn
for our case (n1=n2=1).
V1
V2
(28)
The open circuit configuration gives (29). The voltage drop is directly the Urw voltage
characterizing the working of the loop.
V10 R1 .I 10 L1
V20 M
dI 10
R1 .I 10 L1 .I 10 .
dt
dI 10
M.I 10 .
dt
(29)
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
437
6. Results
In this part the electrical equivalent circuit given by the modeling process is presented as
well as comparisons between the circuit simulation and measurements.
6.1 Modeling of the real system
The CAD complete studied structure is presented on Fig. 17 on which the wheels, chariot,
inductive loop clearly appear.
Indeed in order to correctly solve the problem, some geometrical simplifications have been
done. The wheels, the rails and the axles have been replaced by straight massive conductors;
four shunts have been added to connect the chariot to the axles in order to represent a
realistic situation.
Using InCa3D, the result is presented on Fig. 18.
The geometry has been meshed in order to take into account the proximity and frequency
effects.
438
After the PEEC solving, the equivalent circuit has been reduced in order to obtain the simple
SPICE-like circuit drawn on Fig. 19 where each part of the system is well identified by an LR series equivalent circuit. On this circuit all the inductances are coupled with mutual
coefficients but they have been cut off to make it clearer.
6.2 Comparison between measures and simulation on the experimental set
The experimental case has been modeled (Fig. 11) using the same process and for each
configuration simulation results with the same operating conditions (value of the supply
voltage source, frequency) have been compared to the measurements.
The results are presented in Table 1 for the closed circuit and Table 2 for an open one.
A good agreement between simulations and measurements can be observed.
chariot1b
shunt2
shunt4
chariot1a
rail1
wheel2
contact1
contact2
contact3
rail2
contact4
wheel4
shunt3
shunt1
wheel3
axle2
axle1
loop
chariot2a
chariot2b
Fig. 19. Reduced electrical equivalent circuit for the studied structure (mutual inductances
have been removed)
Chariot_middle
wheel1
439
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
Conditions
Only the loop
Loop + Rails + Axles
Loop + Rails + Axles +
Chariot
Loop + Rails + Axles +
Chariot + 4 shunts
Measure
Simulation
Measure
Simulation
Measure
Simulation
Measure
Simulation
I_loop (A)
10.07
10.72
11.13
12.84
12.6
14.65
12.5
14.95
Closed circuit
L (H)
()
-98
5.15
-89.9
4.84
-96
4.5
-89.8
3.98
-95.8
4.05
-89.8
3.5
-95
4.16
-89.8
3.49
R ()
0.25
0.01
0.44
0.01
0.38
0.01
0.34
0.01
Table 1. Current in the loop and electrical characteristics for a closed circuit - simulation and
measurements
Open circuit
Conditions
Loop + Rails + Axles
Loop + Rails + Axles
+ Chariot
Loop + Rails + Axles
+ Chariot + 4 shunts
I_loop
(A)
Measure
10.8
Simulation 11.68
Measure
12.04
Simulation
13.8
Measure
12.3
Simulation
14.7
()
L (H)
R ()
Urw (V)
-95.9
-89.8
-95.5
-89.8
-95.3
-89.8
5.21
4.84
4.59
4.02
4.35
3.65
0.46
0.01
0.38
0.01
0.37
0.01
24.1
25.22
21.67
22.85
8.4
8.56
urw
4.66 %
5.45 %
1.9%
Table 2. Rail-Wheel voltage and electrical characteristics for an open circuit - simulation and
measurements
6.3 Parametric analysis
Once the modeling process is established with satisfactory results, it is possible to make some
changes to analyze the influence of some parameters on the performances of the system.
Indeed, using InCa3D, it is possible to define geometrical and physical parameters and
make them varying to improve the design of the inductive loop.
For the studied structure, the following characteristics can be defined as parameters:
-
440
The distance between the inductive loop and the rails is varying in this study.
On Fig. 20, results show that the lower this distance is, the higher the Urw is.
This result is quite logical since according to (30) the induced voltage is linked to the
magnetic flux. And when the distance between the two loops is low this flux is maximal.
e
d
dt
(30)
Nevertheless, the range of variation of this parameter is quite limited because mechanical
constraints on the train and required standards for some sizes. There is a minimum value to
respect.
By way of contrast, if the distance between the loop and the chariot decreases, the value of
Urw decreases too. This is due to the fact that, as said before, the chariot creates a
supplementary winding (Fig. 3) in which an induced current can be created. The inductive
coupling in this case is higher than between the loop and the rails.
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
10
30
50
70
90
110
I_Rail (A)
Urw (V)
Fig. 20. Urw voltage vs. distance between the loop and the rails
6.3.2 Variation of the sizes and the position of the loop
On Fig. 21, three configurations have been modeled in order to evaluate the impact of the
sizes and the position of the loop.
Along the simulations, it has been observed that it is essential that the loop is parallel to the
rails and axles unless it performance drastically decreases.
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
441
Fig. 21. Three configurations for the sizes and the position of the loop
For example, by reducing by half the length of the loop, the Urw decreases by 32.8%. And
by reducing by half the width of the loop, the Urw decreases between 26% and 52%
(depending on the place where it is measured -close to the loop or not). If, on the contrary,
the length of the loop is increased of 25%, Urw decreases by 11.6%.
The results obtained during these simulations confirm that the coupling between the
primary constituted by the loop, and the secondary constituted by the circuit rails-axles,
depends on the geometry of the loop. The purpose is obviously that the secondary circuit
shares as many lines of magnetic field as possible with the primary one. Since there is no
magnetic material which can guide the magnetic flux, contrary to a classic transformer, it is
necessary to move as close as possible from the inductive loop of the secondary conductors
to increase the coupling.
Keeping the same loop and moving it under the train so that it is no more under the chariot,
the distance between the primary part and the secondary one will increase and the
performances will decrease. A secondary part constituted by both rails and axles of two
different chariots can also be imagined. Yet the distance between the axles of two
consecutive chariots is approximately 15 meters. The length of the loop is then considerably
increased, and thus its inductance (ratio 3.7). The voltage source of the loop would then be
oversized to obtain an Urw voltage equivalent to that of the current loop. Moreover the cost
of the loop would be drastically increased and additional mechanical constraints to fix the
loop would appear.
6.3.3 Variation of the diameter of the loop
Keeping the same external sizes for the loop, the diameter of the copper tube has been
increased in this part of the study. As presented on Fig. 22, this implies a reduction of the
internal surface of the loop.
442
The simulations show that for a constant supply voltage the magnetic flux remains constant
too. Since =BS, when the diameter of the tube increases the internal surface of the loop
decreases. So the induction B increases. As the current is directly proportional to the
induction and as =LI, the increase of the induction leads to an increase of the current and
thus a decrease of the inductance of the system.
By dividing the diameter of the tube by 2 (21mm), the surface increases by 7.5% and the
current in the loop decreases by 13.6%. The inductance increases by 16.7%. The result of this
variation of diameter is the decrease of Urw voltage by 8%.
On the contrary, if the diameter of the tube is doubled (84mm), the surface decreases by
13.8%, the current in the loop increases by 20%. The Urw voltage increases by 8%.
But it is not possible to increase this parameter too much because the increase of the current
would imply more Joule losses and a higher temperature.
At this step, a question could be to determine the maximum value for the current in the loop
regarding the losses but also the EMC performances of the whole system.
6.3.4 Variation of the number of turns for the loop
Keeping the same external shape as the current loop, a second turn has been added using a
copper tube of 20mm of diameter.
This additional turn considerably increases the inductance (ratio 3.7). Theoretically, the
inductance is proportional to the square of the number of turn (4 in this case).
So with a constant voltage source, the current inside the loop thus decreases with the
same ratio and the created magnetic field is also weaker. The Urw voltage is then
decreasing by 46%. So it is necessary to increase the voltage source to keep the same
performances.
6.3.5 Variation of the number of the shunts
On Fig. 19, it is clear that the four shunts, which connect the chariot to the axles to ensure a
return path for the current and protect the persons of an electric risk, introduce new loops in
which current can flow.
Using simulations it is possible to connect -or not- these shunts in order to evaluate their
impact on the Urw voltage.
Indeed, considering only two shunts Urw voltage increases by 110%. And with only one
shunt, no induced current can flow since the circuit is open and the Urw voltage increases
then by 210%.But since these shunts ensure the electric safety of the persons, it is not
possible to eliminate them.
6.3.6 Variation of the resistivity of the material
Considering the results presented in Table 1, the impedance of the loop is mainly inductive ,
all the more because the resistive part becomes negligible since the frequency is high.
443
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
So by changing the resistivity of material, aluminum instead of copper (ratio 1.6), no impact
on the Urw voltage can be underlined.
This aspect is very interesting in an economic point of view because the loop could be made
of a material cheaper than copper.
6.3.7 Variation of the electrical contact
To model the electrical contact between the wheel and the rail a resistor has been added
because this is not a perfect short-circuit (Fig. 19).
By making the value of this resistor vary, it is possible to deteriorate the contact.
Results are presented on Table 3 for a resistance varying from 1 to 1M.
For values higher than 5, the Urw voltage remains constant.
And for a 42V voltage source, the Urw is about 3.7V. This characteristic has been drawn on
Fig. 23 and is close to that of the voltage at the secondary winding of a transformer.
This study shows that even if the four wheels of the chariot are not in electric contact with
the rails, as with a resistance of contact of 1M, the inductive loop always allows to obtain a
sufficient Urw voltage which corresponds in this case to the open circuit voltage of a
transformer.
The bad quality of contacts which is one of the causes of non detection of trains inside a
section is then swept away.
R
I loop
I Rail
Urw
12.9 A
2.55 A
4.2 V
12.57 V
1.50 A
3.96 V
12.42 V
0.367 A
3.73 V
10
12.42 A
0.185 A
3.68 V
100
12.41 V
1.85 10-2 A
3.68 V
1 k
12.41 V
1.85 10-3 A
3.68 V
10 k
12.41 V
1.85 10-4 A
3.68 V
50 k
12.41 V
3.71 10-5 A
3.68 V
100 k
12.41 V
1.85 10-5 A
3.68 V
500 k
12.41 V
3.71 10-6 A
3.68 V
1 M
12.41 V
1.85 10-6 A
3.68 V
444
4,5
4
3,5
Urw (V)
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
1
10
100
1000
10000
100000
1000000
The supply source of the inductive loop is a 147kHz sinusoidal voltage which is obtained
from the 72V battery embedded on the train and electronic cards. This is a specific source
and no particular constraints are linked to the other electric systems embedded on the
train. So it is possible to imagine a variation of the level of voltage as well as the
frequency.
It is clear that, the Urw voltage is directly linked to the voltage value (proportionality). This
is logical since no magnetic material has been taken into account in this study.
If there is a magnetic material, with the increase of the voltage, saturation will appear and
this proportionality relation will be wrong.
Concerning the frequency, using simulations, it has been changed from 50Hz to 1MHz.
On Fig. 24 the frequency evolution of the Urw voltage is represented.
With the obtained results, since the resistive part of the loop is very low, the famous relation
U = LI even for low frequencies is valid. So the current into the loop could be very high for
low frequency and but could decrease with increasing frequency.
And to ensure a sufficient value for the Urw voltage it must be higher than some 10A.
So compromise has to be reached to improve the inductive loop, between the values of
the voltage source, its frequency, losses, possible saturation if magnetic materials are
used.
Study and Design of an Electro Technical Device for Safety on Railway Network
445
Urw (V)
4
3,6
3,5
3,7 3,8
3,6
3,4
3,18
3
2,5
2
1,5
1
0,5
0
1
10
100
1000
10000
100000
1000000
Frequency (Hz)
Fig. 24. Urw (V) vs. frequency (Hz) of the voltage source
7. Conclusions
The number of trains on the national network is increasing. In order to ensure a maximum
security, it is necessary to localize all the trains all the time.
For that purpose, the French National Railway Company (SNCF) uses an electronic
detection based on the fact that the set wheel/axles/chariot short circuits the rails.
In case of a bad shuntage, an additional device is used; its working, as well as its main
parameters, is studied in this article.
A modeling process is applied with the support of the PEEC method to generate a complete
electrical equivalent circuit of the device. Thanks to measurements, the accuracy of the
modeling approach has been validated. The influence of geometrical and physical
parameters on the performances of the studied device has been analyzed in order to find the
main parameters and to optimize the structure.
Future works concerning the evaluation of the supplementary losses, the modeling of
magnetic material as well as the modeling of the contact wheel/rail which is not fixed but
flowing have to be achieved.
8. Acknowledgment
Authors want to thank the French National Railway Company for its financial support for
this study and its help for the experimental sets.
9. References
Hoer, C. & Love, C. (1965). Exact Inductance Equations for Rectangular Conductors with
Applications to More Complicated Geometries. Journal of Research C. Engineering
and Instrumentation, Vol. 69C, No.2, (April-June 1965), pp. 127-137
446
Gonnet, J-P.; Clavel, E.; Mazauric; V. & Roudet, J. (2004). PEEC Method dedicated to the
design of electrical systems. Proceedings of PIERS 2004 Progress In Electromagnetic
Research Symposium, Pise, Italie, March 28-31 2004
Aim, J.; Ardon, V.; Clavel; E., Roudet, J. & Loizelet, Ph. (2009a). EMC behavior of static
converters thanks to radiated field modeling using an equivalent electrical circuit.
IEEE-IECON 35th International Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics
Society, Porto, Portugal, November 2-5 2009
Ruehli, A.E. (1974). Equivalent circuit models for three dimensional multiconductor
systems, IEEE transaction on microwave theory and techniques, Vol. MTT 22, No.3,
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Ardon, V.; Aim, J.; Chadebec, O.; Clavel, E. & Vialardi, E. (2009). MoM and PEEC Method
to Reach a Complete Equivalent Circuit of a Static Converter. IEEE EMC09,
Zurich, Switzerland, January 12-16 2009
Clavel, E. & Prmont, Ch. (2007a). Function transfer sensitivity of an electronic filter versus
capacitors location on a printed circuit board. 2EMC07 Rouen, France, October 1819 2007
Jazzar, A.; Clavel, E.; Meunier, G.; Vincent, B.; Goleanu, A. & Vialardi, E. (2011). Modeling
and simulating the lightning phenomenon: aeronautic materials comparison in
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Cambridge University Press, New York, USA
18
General Principles Regarding the Rehabilitation
of Existing Railway Bridges
Petzek Edward and Radu Bncil
Fig. 1. The European corridors crossing Romanias territory: IV, VII and IX
During service, bridges are subject to wear. In the last decades the initial volume of traffic
has increased. Therefore many bridges require a detailed investigation and control. The
examination should consider the age of the bridge and all repairs, the extent and location of
any defects etc (Figure 2).
448
449
visual inspection the most common method which includes microscopes, mirrors, portable
video cameras, robotic crawlers; this method is very useful in case of surface cracks;
magnetic particle inspection this method is also very simple and does not need high
qualification personnel, but can be applied just in case of ferromagnetic materials (not for
austenitic steels). The method consists in the magnetization of the high stress elements or
critical details and indicates directly the surface discontinuity through forming a distorted
magnetic field, which can be detected under proper lighting conditions;
liquid penetration inspection is a simple method including the qualification of the
personnel; it uses penetrate liquids with fluorescent pigment and UV light in order to
indicate the surface defections;
radiographic inspection the method is applied for hidden defects and it uses Gamma or
Roentgen radiation. The inspected element is placed between the radiation and the film.
The interpretation of the radiographic images should be done by experts, otherwise
defects could be ignored;
ultrasonic inspection this testing is used for flaws and cracks in the material thickness,
on the surface or hidden defects; highly qualified personnel is needed. High frequency
sound waves are introduced into a material and they are reflected back from surfaces or
flaws. This process is recorded by an oscilloscope. This method cannot be used for
elements made of multiple plates (riveted sections).
Eddy Current testing this method can detect surface defects but can also be used for
thickness inspection.
The usual simplified analysis methods do not always give the lowest resistance values for
the structure, but usually the more refined assessment methods which give greater
resistance are expensive. According to the experience of the expert a progressive analysis
can be applied. In a first step simple classical methods can be applied [2]. If they fail, more
sophisticated methods can be used, until either it is shown that the bridge is adequate, or it
is concluded that strengthening is needed. An engineer with experience can jump over some
time consuming steps which do not give any benefit (an interesting proposal is that the
engineer will be paid on a percentage on the saving basis [4]). Actual loads are lower than
450
those used for design purposes. Fatigue tests on elements taken from demolished structures
gives generally - greater fatigue life than the values according the codes [5].
The applied stress range, the geometry of the detail and the number of stress cycles has a
decisive effect on the remaining fatigue life of the structures.
By differences of more than 5 % of the cross section due to corrosion, the actual values
must be introduced.
However, from the overall examination of a large number of bridges many defects can be
pointed out. The defects are widespread, having a heterogeneous character from the point of
view of location, development and development tendency; their amplification was also due to
the climate and polluting factors that caused the reduction of the cross section due to corrosion.
Statistically, in 283 from among 1088 welded bridges, and in 356 from among 3201 steel riveted
bridges cracks were detected and repaired. It is not allowed to weld cracks! Old bridges can
have welds executed in the early years; a special attention must be paid to these parts. Generally
the riveted connections have a good behavior in time due to the initial pre-stressing force which
can reach 70 80 N/mm. In Table 1 some typical defects in stringers, cross girders, main
girders wind bracings and orthotropic deck and their repair are presented [6],[7].
In figure 3 there is presented a crack of a joint plate from a wind bracing and in figure 4 also
cracks in the lower flange joint of a double T girder, near to the bearing.
Element
0
Main
girder
CRACK
1
REPAIR
2
Grinding
New additional plate
Observation
Main
girder
Main
girder
Stringer
Stringer
451
452
Element
CRACK
REPAIR
Stringer
Stringer
Cross
girder
Cross
girder
Orthotropic deck
Orthotropic deck
Stringer
Element
CRACK
REPAIR
Stringer
Stringer
Stringer
Stringer
Twin
girders
Twin
girders
Wind
bracing
453
454
Signs of cracks and defects are rust traces, which occur by friction between jointed plates of
the elements. These are of relevance for hidden constructive elements.
Defects of the bearings are frequent as well. In figure 5 there are presented two examples.
Fig. 6. Strong corrosion at the lower flange railway bridge on a main line
455
3. Characteristics of materials
The following facts show that a material analysis for old riveted bridges is very useful:
Old bridges are in many cases erected using material with very poor welding qualities
and basing on railway administration data and specialized literature it is known that
cast iron was used to build bridges;
The specialized literature doesnt offer enough information about this structural steel;
The structural material comes from several producers (for South Eastern Europe mostly
from Reschitz Romania and Gyr Hungary).
456
457
Transition curves
KV-Arad-SpanIIIStringers
160
KV-Arad-SpanIIIMain Girder
140
KV-Arad-SpanIIICross Girders
120
KV-Sag-SpanI-III
100
KV-Sag-SpanIVV
KV-V.Cernei1
80
KV-V.Cernei2
60
KV-Branisca1
KV-Branisca2
40
27
20
KV-Mehadia
KV-B.Sarata
0
-20
-15
-10
-5
10
15
20
Temperature T [C]
Ref_value
Expon. (KVB.Sarata)
0
0
50
100
150
200
J [N/mm]
Fig. 10. Charpy V Notch Energy vs. material toughness Jc (Arad Bridge 1912)
In the present state of knowledge it is generally accepted that the fatigue failure of materials
is a process containing three distinct steps: (1) initiation of defect (crack), (2) crack
propagation in material, (3) separation through complete failure of the material in two or
more pieces. Practically, the safety service life of an element under fatigue conditions can be
expressed as follows (figure 11):
N f Ni N p
(1)
458
Crack propagation
Crack initiation
Stress
Dtot
(2)
da/dN - crack extension for one load cycle; K- stress intensity range, established basing
on the stress range ; R- stress ratio; H- indicates the stress history dependence.
The crack growth rate da/dN, defined as a crack extension - da obtained through a load
cycle dN (it can also be defined as da/dt, in which case the crack extension is related to a
time interval), represents a value characteristic of the initiation phases respectively the stable
crack propagation. It has been experimentally observed that the connection between the
crack growth rate and stress intensity factor variation represents a suitable solution for the
description of the behavior of a metallic material containing a crack, as in the case of steel. In
a logarithmic graphical representation of the crack growth rate da/dN versus the stress
intensity range K a curve as the one in the following figure (Fig. 12), is obtained.
da
dN
* Fracture
Region I
da
m
= C K
dN
Paris Law
*
Threshold Kth
Region III
log
m
Region II
log K
459
The calculation of the structural elements remaining service life can be done basing on the
Paris law, more precisely by integration of this law:
N
acrit
a0
N dN
da
C K m
(3)
N - number of stress cycles necessary in order that the crack extends from its initial
dimension a0 to the critical value acrit, where failure occurs;
a crack length;
C, m material constants from the crack propagation law;
K stress intensity factor range.
This integral can be numerically calculated by taking into account a critical detail knowing
the crack values (initial and critical), basing on the following relation:
acrit
a0
da
C Y m ( a) m/2
m
(4)
The number of cycles Ni obtained with the help of relation (4) represents the remaining
service life of the detail, by regarding the initial length a0 up to the critical length acrit, by
admitting stable crack propagation (Figure 13).
Crack length
length,, a
a crit
K 2Ic
Y 2 2max
da
dN
Initial crack a0
RSL
0
da
) ln C m ln K
dN
(5)
460
The experimental tests on 26 CT specimens from two old bridges have shown that for the
oldest mild steels the values of the material constants from the Paris relation are in the
following intervals: m = 2,05 5,65 and C = 2,2 x 10-11 10-18.
Relatively large value of m corresponding to very small values of C, for example for m > 4
C 10-15 10-18.
Fig. 14. Experimental tests in order to establish the material constants C and m
ni
1
Ni
(6)
461
(7)
D < 0,8 the probability to detect cracks is very low. The inspection intervals (generally
between 3 6 years) can be established on criteria independent of fatigue. Nevertheless,
a special attention must be paid to critical details.
D 0,8 cracks are probable and possible. An in situ inspection and the analysis of
critical details are strongly necessary. Also a fracture mechanics approach is
recommended.
462
Assessment of remaining
fatigue life
(automatical)
procedure for the
detremination of
the af value
according to
FAD-2
Geometry of detail
Accumulated damage
Dp
Dd < 0,8
Dd 0,8
Regular inspections
Usual maintenance
measures
Inspection
NO
ai = af
Identification and
monitoring of critical
details
YES
Remaining fatigue life of the analysed
element given by the number of cycles
Preventive
strengthening
Fracture mechanics
approach
Fig. 16. Assessment of the remaining fatigue life and the crack growth procedure
Establishing
of number of
days, months,
years of use
Establishing
of inspection
interval &
maintenance
program
463
(8)
where
NRFL = the remaining fatigue life calculated for the structural element
Na = the number of cycles computed for a crack extension rate of 5 mm during two
successive inspections.
The life prediction computing was performed with the help of a soft developed by one of
the authors [7].
5. Case studies
Three European corridors cross Romanias territory: IV, VII and IX. Of a special interest for
many European countries is the Pan-European Corridor IV Berlin - Nrnberg - Prague Budapest - Constanta /Istanbul/ Thessaloniki. On Romanias territory the railway
component of Pan - European Corridor IV has the following route: Curtici - Arad Sighisoara - Brasov Predeal Campina - Bucharest - Constanta.
464
Due to the fact that the Campina - Predeal railway route crosses the sub-Carpathians area
and the southern part of the Southern Carpathians it was necessary to adapt it to the
difficult geographical conditions; actually this section is the most complicated part from the
whole Romanian route. The railway line was built step by step beginning with 1879. The
doubling of the 43 km long railway line Campina - Predeal was accomplished between 1939
- 1942. The line electrification was completed during 1961 - 1965.
Generally, the line is oriented from the south to the north. It follows the valley of the
Prahova River crossing this river in 17 points.
This section includes 41 bridges. From this total number 22 are plate girder bridges, 6 are
truss structures, 12 concrete bridges and 1 are conceived in the filler beams deck solution.
Fig. 19. The methodology and the constructive details for the evaluation of the RFL
465
After the stress analysis (Figure 20) and the fatigue verifications based on the Whler
concept which were made in relation with the prescriptions of the Romanian standard SR
1911-1998, Swiss code 161 & SBB Richtlinie 2002 and the German code DS 805-2002, a life
prediction analysis based on fracture mechanics principles was performed in order to
evaluate the remaining fatigue life for these structures for the new traffic UIC conditions.
466
Calculation elements:
-
The traffic expressed in pairs of trains per day in the peak month that took place on the line
Cmpina Predeal in the year 2004, was:
467
For the material toughness in terms of Jcrit a minimal value of 20 N/mm at a temperature of 20C was chosen. For the life prediction procedure in the case of the material constants
following values have been chosen: m = 3 and C = 3 x 10-12 (see also [11]).
A stress history was established using the following mixed traffic from EC 1. This is
actually the future traffic which will be characteristic for the new rehabilitated railway
corridor. All these trains were moved on the structure in order to establish the multi-block
stress history.
Train
type
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
24,95
468
469
470
Ds
[daN/cm2]
50
100
150
175
200
250
275
300
350
400
450
475
500
T1
T2
0
0
12
0
132
12
0
12
0
0
0
12
0
T3
0
0
12
108
0
0
0
12
12
0
0
0
0
0
0
10
0
0
65
10
10
0
0
0
0
0
2
Ds e [daN/cm ] =
T7
36
12
0
0
36
0
0
60
60
36
0
0
72
T8
0
0
0
0
8
0
0
0
8
0
88
0
8
381.36
108
0
0
0
0
12
0
6
0
0
6
0
0
Total/day
Total
249
19
34
108
291
149
20
100
80
36
94
12
94
1037
471
350
600
291
300
500
249
250
200
149
300
150
108
No. of cycles n
Stress range
Ds [daN/cm 2]
400
100
200
80
100
94
94
36
20
100
50
34
19
12
0
1
10
11
12
0
13
through thickness flaw with initial size a0 = 2.0 mm which is undetectable because it is
situated under rivet head in the web steel plate, and
through thickness flaw with initial size a0 = 2.0 mm which is also undetectable during a
visual inspection appearing in the corner (lower flange).
472
473
Bridge
nr.
Constr.
year
Span
1940
6,60 m
1942
2 x 11,8 m
1942
2 x 11,8 m
1942
8,60 m
13
1942
9,80 m +
26,90 m
15
1942
19,00 m +
18,80 m
Cross section
type / main elements
Photo
474
16
1942
26,90 m
17
1880/
1942
8,40 m
20
1942
37,20 m
22
1942
14,00 m
24
1944
53,60 m
25
19401944
58,25 m
28
1940
56,20 m
29
1940
9,00 m
30
1979
16,30 m
31
1942
8,30 m
32
1940
53,40 m
33
1942
10,60 m
475
476
34
1966
14,20 m
37
1960
23,00 m
40
19421944
31,20 m
41
1880/
1942
16,00 m
477
Fig. 35. Cross section of the new structure and calculation model
6. Conclusion
The progress recorded in the last decades allows on one part an accurate evaluation of the
remaining safety of the structures and on the others part the proposal of new efficient,
economical solutions with the high level sustainability.
7. References
[1] * * * Code UIC 778-2R; Recommandations pour la dtermination de la capacit portante
des structures mtalliques existantes; Union Internationale des Chemins de fer,
Paris, 1986.
[2] **, DS 805 Bestehende Eisenbahnbrcken. Bewertung der Tragsicherheit und
konstruktive Hinweise, August 2002.
[3] **, SR 1911-98, Poduri metalice de cale ferat. Prescripii de proiectare, Institutul
Romn de Standardizare, Bucuresti, 1998.
[4] Jackson, P. Is bridge assessment losing its credibility? The Structural Engineer, Volume
79 / No 9, May 2001.
[5] Xie, M., Bessant G.T., Chapman, J.C., Hobbs, R.E., Fatigue of riveted bridge girders
The Structural Engineer, Volume 79 / No 9, May 2001.
[6] * * *, Maintenance of steel bridges, Romanian Pre-standard, Bucharest 2000.
[7] Petzek, E., Safety in Operation and Rehabilitation of Steel Bridges, Doctoral Thesis, UP
Timioara, 2004.
478
[8] ** I-AM 08/2002. Richtlinie fr die Beurteilung von genieteten Eisenbahnbrcken, SBB
CFF FFS.
[9] Petzek E., Kosteas D., Bancila R., 2005. Sicherheitsbestimmung bestehender Stahlbrcken
in Rumnien, Stahlbau Nr. 8, 9, ISSN 0038-9145, Ernst & Sohn.
[10] ***, BS 7910:1999, Guide on the Methods for Assessing the Acceptability of Flaws in
Metallic Structures, British Standards Institution, London, 1999.
[11] Eriksson, K., Toughness requirements for old structural steel, IABSE Report Congress,
2000.
[12] SCHMITT, V., et alt.: VFT-Bauweise, Entwicklung von Verbundfertigteiltrgern im
Brckenbau, Beton- und Stahlbetonbau 96, 2001, Heft 4.
[13] SEIDL, G. et al. (2006), Prefabricated Enduring Composite Beams based on Innovative
Shear Transmission Proposal RFSR-CT-2006-00030 .
19
Special Tunnel Blasting Techniques for
Railway Projects
More Ramulu
480
In tunnel blasting, explosives are required to perform in a difficult condition, as single free
face (in the form of tunnel face) is available in contrast to bench blasting where at least two
free faces exist. Hence, more drilling and explosives are required per unit volume of rock to
be fragmented in the case of tunnel blasting. A second free face, called cut, is created
initially during the blasting process and the efficiency of tunnel blast performance largely
depends on the proper development of the cut. The factors influencing the development of
the cut and the overall blast results are dependent on a host of factors involving rock mass
type, blast pattern and the tunnel configurations.
2. Blasting mechanics
The tunnel blasting mechanics can be conceptualised in two stages. Initially, a few holes
called cut holes are blasted to develop a free face or void or cut along the tunnel axis. This
represents a solid blasting condition where no initial free face is available. Once the cut is
created, the remaining holes are blasted towards the cut. This stage of blasting is similar
to bench blasting but with larger confinement. The results of tunnel blasting depend
primarily on the efficiency of the cut hole blasting. The first charge fired in cut resembles
crater blasting. Livingston's spherical charge crater theory (Livingston, 1956) suggests that
the blast induced fracturing is dominated by explosion gas pressure which is supported
by Liu and Katsabanis (1998). Duvall and Atchison (1957), Wilson (1987) and others
believe that the stress wave induced radial fracturing is the dominating cause of blast
fragmentation and gas pressure is responsible only for extension of the fractures
developed by the stress wave.
The natures of influence of the two pressures i.e. of stress and gas are different in the jointed
rock mass where the stress waves is useful in fragmentation as the joints restrict the stress
wave propagation. The gases, on the other hand, penetrate the joint planes and try to
separate the rock blocks. The fragments size and shape in jointed formations are dominated
by the gas pressure and the joint characteristics. The roles of the stress wave and the gas
pressures are no different in the second stage of tunnel blasting. But with the availability of
free face, the utilisation of stress wave is increased. The rock breakages by rupturing and by
reflected tensile stress are more active in the second stage because of cut formation in the
first stage.
Non controllable
Semi-controllable
iii. Controllable
481
(1)
where,
q1=specific charge for breaking of rock against a free face in kg/m3,
st = factor for structure and texture of rock,
f = rock confinement = 6.5 / A,
(1a)
(m2),
A= area of tunnel
swr = relative weight strength of explosive (ANFO = 1), and
def = factor for diameter of explosive cartridge,
According to Langefors and Kihlstrom (1973), the specific charge (q) is related to the crosssectional area of the tunnel (A, m2) as given below:
(2)
kg/m3
in a
482
Chakraborty (2002) observed the following influences of joint directions on pull and
overbreak (Table 1).
Joint Orientation
Strike with respect to
Dip
tunnel axis
Steep
Parallel
Steep
Across
Gentle
Across
Moderate
Across/oblique
Face Advance
Roof Overbreak
Very poor
Very good
Fair
Good
Very small
Very large
Large
Small
No damage
Slight
Moderate
Per cent
Reduction
0
3-6
6-10
Severe damage
0.9-0.8
10-20
Method of Excavation
Damage Level
1. Machine boring
2. Controlled blasting
3. Good conventional blasting
4. Poor conventional blasting
where
qt = uniaxial tensile strength, MPa,
Vp = P-wave velocity, m/s, and
E = Young's modulus, GPa.
q t Vp 10 -3
E
, m/s
(3)
483
Pusch and Stanfors (1992) and others observed that the minimum disturbance by blasting is
reported when the tunnel orientation was within 15o with the strike of the joint sets.
Yu and Vongpaisal (1996) concluded that the damage is a function of blast induced stress
and rock mass resistance to damage. They proposed Blast Damage Index (Dib) to estimate
the type of damage due to blasting. It is the ratio of the blast induced stress to the resistance
offered against damage.
Ramulu et al (2009) categorised blast induced damage as,
-
(4)
where,
Dmax Maximum extent of rock mass damage due to repeated vibrations, m
Vs S-wave velocity, m/s
6. Contour blasting
Contour blasting in tunnelling is adopted to obtain a smooth tunnel profile and minimise
damage to the surrounding rock mass. Despite a large amount of drilling required, it is
preferred over conventional blasting because of the following advantages:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
The performance of contour blasting is frequently measured in terms of `Half cast factor'
(HCF) which is dominated by the design parameters of the contour holes, the joint
orientation and the explosive energy distribution.
Generally, two types of contour blasting are used in tunnelling, i) pre-splitting and ii)
smooth blasting. When two closely spaced charged holes are fired simultaneously the stress
waves generated from the two holes collide at a plane in between the holes and create a
secondary tensile stress front perpendicular to the hole axis and facilitates extension of
radial cracks along the line joining the holes. The wedging action from the explosion gas acts
in favour of extending the crack along the same line. It is, therefore, essential to contain the
gas pressure till the cracks from both ends meet by adequate stemming. Further, the delay
timing of the adjacent holes need to be very accurate so that the stress waves should collide
at the mid-point and the arbitrariness of the breakage between the holes can be reduced.
484
The contour blasting performance largely depends on the nature and the orientation of joint
planes. Gupta et al. (1988) found that the joint orientation adversely influences the presplitting results to a maximum when these are at an angle of 1-30o to the pre-split axis.
In smooth blasting, the delay intervals between the contour holes and the nearest
production holes are kept high to facilitate complete movement of material in production
holes before the contour holes detonate so that the gas expansion in contour holes occurs
towards the opening. Sometimes, holes are drilled in between two charged blast holes and
are kept uncharged. These are called dummy holes (Figure 1). The stress concentration at
the farthest and the nearest points of the dummy holes become high to initiate cracks from
the dummy holes extending towards the charged holes. The fracture is, thus, controlled
along the desired contour.
In some cases, slashing or trimming techniques are used where the central core of
excavation area is removed first to reduce the stress and then post-splitting is adopted to
remove the remaining rock mass along the desired contour. The technique is generally
referred to as 'slashing' or trimming [Calder and Bauer (1983), Figure 2].
Fig. 2. Cushion blast holes for trimming of a tunnel after pilot excavation
485
Line drilling is adopted as an alternative technique where a number of uncharged holes are
drilled along the contour with a spacing of 2-4 times the hole diameter (Du Pont, 1977). The
distance of the row of empty holes from the final row of charged holes is kept as 0.5-0.75
times the normal burden. The empty holes are joined during the main blasting round and a
separation is created along the contour.
According to Holmberg and Persson (1978), the spacing of pre-split holes should be 8-12
times the blast hole diameter. The following design parameters for contour hole spacing,
burden to spacing ratio of contour holes and linear charge concentration in smooth blasting
are suggested by Holmberg (1982) :
Sdc = 16 x db, m
(5)
mdc = 1.25
(6)
(7)
where
Sdc = spacing of contour holes while drilling, m,
mdc = burden to spacing ratio of contour holes while drilling,
qlcc = linear charge concentration in the contour holes, kg/m, and
db = diameter of blast holes, m.
Controlled blast design details recommended by Olofsson (1988) are presented in Table 3.
Blast Hole
Spacing of Blast
Diameter (mm)
Holes (m)
25-32
0.25-0.35
Smooth blasting
25-48
0.5-0.7
51-64
0.8-0.9
Pre-splitting
38-44
0.3-0.45
Type of Blasting
Burden
(m)
0.3-0.5
0.7-0.9
1.0-1.2
-
Linear Charge
Concentration (kg/m)
0.11
0.23
0.42-0.45
0.12-0.37
486
A ventilation shaft of 40m depth was also excavated by using the same technique at
diversion tunnel of Latur-Osmanabad Railway tunneling project of Central Railways in 20
days. This techniques yielded in saving of time by 80% and cost of excavation by 60% in
comparison to the conventional shaft sinking method, which mainly suffer from weather
effects, confined working space and low cycle time.
Similarly, a pilot surge shaft of 3.0m diameter130m depth was excavated by long hole raise
driving technique at a lift irrigation scheme of Koilsagar project. This swift and cost effective
shaft excavation technique was completed in just 60 days with cost savings of 70% and time
saving by 95% in contrast to conventional shaft sinking method. The profile of excavated
pilot surge shaft at Koilsagar project is shown in Figure 4.
7.2 Lake tap blasting
The lake taping of fist of its kind with indigenous technology was carried out in India by
CMRI (now CIMFR) at granitic rock mass in South India. The Andhra Pradesh Power
Generation Corporation (APGENCO), India, executed a lift irrigation scheme (SLBC) for
the Government of Andhra Pradesh to install 4 Nos. of 4 x 25000 hp pumps to lift 2400
cusecs of water from the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir for irrigation purpose. A 4 m thick
rock plug, designed by CMRI, was left for lake tapping at the end of project. The area of
cross section of the tunnel was 40 m2. Considering proximity of the nearby structures a
controlled blast strategy in phased manner was evolved prior to final plug blasting.
Vibration and damage characteristics were ascertained to finalise the blast design of the
final plug.
487
Fig. 4. Profile of pilot surge shaft excavated by long hole raise driving at Koilsagar
Based on the blast performance of the trail rock plug final plug blast design was made with
the following salient features:
Specific charge was increased from 1.25 kg/m3 to 1.33 kg/m3 to improve throw and
fragmentation.
Only gelatine explosive was recommended considering the water inflow from the blast
holes.
Dummy holes were made above the crown holes, at a distance of 0.3 m, to minimise
rock mass damage.
A borehole from the top was used to convey initiation to the blast holes.
488
The final plug-blasting pattern is shown in Figure 5. This novel technology being an
indigenous one could save Crores of national exchequers.
7.3 Cautious blasting
By adopting an extremely cautious approach, all 10 reinforced concrete plugs, each of 125
m3 volume, in 5 units were removed by controlled blasting without causing any damage to
the surrounding periphery and pier nose in Srisailam left bank project of the APPGENCO
while the power house was in running condition. The controlled blasting pattern is
described below:
i.
Line drilling holes of 1.5m depth were drilled with spacing of 0.15 m between the holes
on the pier nose side and at 0.20 m inside the periphery.
ii. The periphery holes were pre-split with air-decking. The half cast factor of the
periphery blasting was around 95%, which indicates low damage level. The pre-split
blasting connections and the post-blast wall with half cast holes are shown in Figures.
5(a) and 5(b).
iii. A cut was created at the heading and it was widened and deepened to make a pilot hole
in the plug along its axis.
iv. The balance concrete mass of the heading was slashed with less charge against the void.
v. The bottom was blasted with benching method.
vi. Mucking was done by mechanical and manual means.
vii. Continuous blast vibration monitoring was carried out during the blasts at near,
intermediate and far field.
viii. Analysis of vibration data was done for subsequent blasting and to develop general
predictor equation.
Pre and post blast ultrasonic measurements were taken at the exposed areas of the pier nose
walls to know the change in physical property the reinforced mass due to blasting. The
compressional wave velocities (P-wave) were measured by Roop telesonic ultrasonix
instrument Ultrasonix 4600 which is shown in Figure 6. The average P-wave velocity was
2075 m/s and 2100m/s before and after blasting respectively. The values indicate that there
has been no blast-induced damage to the structure under consideration.
The cautious blasting was also applied at Koldam Hydroelectric Power Project (KHEPP) to
reduce overbreak and to get a smoother tunnel wall profile. The rock mass encountered in
all the tunnels of KHEPP was Dolomite, which was very heterogeneous, highly weathered,
metamorphosed, compact, foliated, sheared and crushed due to the effect of Chamiatar
Khad fault striking N1700 E and 450 W. Joints are open, closely spaced, intersecting, which
are having clay fillings due to mechanical and chemical weathering of the rocks. One main
joint with angle of N 750 E/800W is running parallel to the axis of the tunnels which is very
unfavourable. At some places huge wedges were formed due to the intersection of the joints,
which caused excessive overbreaks in the tunnels. The Q values of most of the rock mass of
tunnels range from 0.12 to 0.21, which indicates that the rock was very poor. Core samples
were collected from both the monitoring locations by underground coring machine.
Engineering properties like Rock Quality Designation (RQD) compressive strength, tensile
strength, density and compressional wave velocity (Vp) were determined from the core
samples.
489
490
491
In-situ compressive strengths were also determined by using Schmidt hammer rebound
testing. The average RQD values of Dolamite rock mass ranging from of 40-60%. Water
absorption properties measured at the test site was 1.2% at both the sides. The improved
blast performance of smooth blasting in the form of smooth profile is shown in Figure 7. The
results were consistent for 12 trial blasts at the Dolomite tunnel. The controlled blasting
restricted the overbreak to only 3%, which was 27% with the conventional tunnel blasting.
The average half cast factor was calculated as 85%.
Fig. 7. Improved blast performance of smooth blasting in the form of smooth profile at
KHEPP
7.4 In-hole delay blasting
Following the trend of opencast blasting, in hole delay blasting technique using delay
electric detonators were used in some mines and tunnels to improve the pull per blast and
reduce the ground vibration. As the confinement in the cut holes are maximum and the blast
performance in tunnels depend mainly on the development of the cut portion, the in-hole
delay were used in the cut holes only. The salient features of the in-hole delay pattern are:
1.
2.
The collar portion of the hole was blasted prior to the bottom. Thus, the confinement at
the hole bottom was less during firing.
Mid-column decking between the two charges in a hole was kept at least 0.6 m to avoid
sympathetic detonation. This decking provided confinement for the bottom charge.
492
The average face pull improve by nearly 30-50%. The specific charge also reduces
proportionately.
The blast vibration intensity reduces by 20 to 25% as the cut hole charge is distributed
in two delays. This is going to reduce the overbreak proportionately.
493
bottom. The diameter of the spacer should be preferably one third of the blasthole diameter
for easy lowering and not allowing the charge to go to bottom side while loading. The
reported values of air-deck length was taken as basis for optimum bottom deck length
which was about 10% of the hole depth (Mead et al, 1993). The hole contains explosive and
stemming column as in conventional loading but with a spacer at the bottom. The principle
of bottom hole air decking in achieving optimum explosive energy interaction on rock mass
is given below:
Reduced shock energy around the blast hole due to cushioning effect of air decking,
which otherwise would result in crushing
Explosive energy-rock interaction is more at the bottom due to relative relief zone
existing at that zone.
Effective toe breakage is due to striking and reflection of shock waves at the bottom face
of hole
The procedure and sequence of blast hole loading and initiation for the bottom hole decking
are given below:
The advantages of the bottom air decking technique in comparison to the conventional
middle air decking are given below:
i.
ii.
The highly confined toe is free of explosive charge but exposed to high concentration
shock energy, resulting in good toe breakage and low vibration intensity.
The reduced overall peak shock reduces the back break and damage.
Blast hole charge design for production blasts with bottom air-decking is Figure 9.
Fig. 9. Blast hole charge design for production blasts with bottom air-decking
The bottom air decking also resulted in the overall progress/pull per round of 36% with 1.5
deep rounds and 22% with 1.8 m deep rounds even with the powder factor improvement
(ton/kg) upto 70%. The increase of detonator factor was very predominant in case of tests
with bottom decking in comparison to tests with bottom decking technique. The technique
was also resulted in reduction of ground vibrations by 20-26%. The laboratory and field
experimental results prove that the bottom-hole air decking is an effective technique for
improving the opencast blasting productivity as well as safety.
494
Fig. 10. Position of stemming device for loading and unloading in the blasthole.
Application of this tool in place of conventional stemming resulted in pull improvement of
5-10% in dolomite tunnels and 8-12% in gneiss tunnel. The improved blast performance was
recorded consistently for 20 trial blasts at the gneiss tunnels and 25 trial blasts at the
dolomite tunnels.
495
Fig. 11. Loading and unloading of sand into the stemming column of a blasthole at KHEPP
Purpose
Reference
Vierra (1984)
CAD
ABAQUS V 5.4
ALEGRA
Air-decking blasting
PFC-2D/3D
Neural
networking
496
Output parameters:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
497
Boundary conditions:
After feeding the input information the software process the entire data and gives the blast hole
geometry and charge pattern for cut holes and other holes separately. The utput information
given by TUNNELBLAST software is given in Figure 12, Figure 13 and Table 5 and Table 6.
The blast design generated by TUNNEL BLAST software was applied at intermediate adit
and the blast results were satisfactory in terms of pull per round and overbreak control. The
trial blast results with felid application of TUNNEL BLAST software are given in Table 7.
The blast results indicate the efficacy of the TUNNEL BLAST software, as a preliminary tool
for tunnel blast design for various geological conditions. The fine tuning of this design can
be done for further improvements in the progress and yield of tunnel blasting.
Fig. 12. Blast design output from TUNNELBLAST for cut holes of intermediate adit
498
Nos. in the boxes denote the delay numbers; Total Charge per round = 97.7 kg
Total no. of holes= 3-Relief holes + 69-Charged holes+ 12-Dummy holes; Powder factor = 1.52 kg/m3
Fig. 13. Controlled blast design output from TUNNEL BLAST for rest of the holes at
intermediate adit of LNPHPP
Short Delay
Name of
No. (25 ms
square
delay)
Burden,
m
Spacing,
m
No. of
holes
Charge/hole,
kg
Total
charge, kg
First
0.15
0.2
1.2
4.8
2/3
Second
0.20
0.4
2.4
9.6
4/5
Third
0.35
0.75
2.4
9.6
6/7
Fourth
0.45
1.2
2.4
9.6
499
Description of holes
Easer holes
Support holes
Support holes-II
Bottom Holes
Crown Holes-I
Crown Holes-II
Crown Holes-III
Crown Periphery
holes
Side Periphery holes
Delay
No.
No. of
holes
Burden
Spacing
Charge per
hole (kg)
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
6
6
6
10
5
5
4
0.6
0.6
0.6
0.4
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.75
0.75
0.75
0.70
1.2
1.2
1.2
0.95
0.95
0.95
1.8
1.6
1.6
1.6
Total
Charge/
delay (kg)
5.7
5.7
5.7
18
8
8
6.4
15
0.6
0.3
0.6
1.8
16
0.6
0.3
0.6
4.8
Table 6. Design and charging details of blast holes, other than cut holes
S No.
1
2
3
3
Location
Downside,
TRT
Upsideside,
TRT
Upsideside,
TRT
Downside,
TRT
Hole
Depth of
diameter,
holes,
mm
m
No. Of
holes
Charge
per round,
kg
Specific
charge,
kg/m3
Pull/round,
m
40
3.5
91
217
2.1
1.98
40
3.5
89
225
1.85
3.1
40
3.5
89
250
1.98
3..0
40
3.5
91
220
2.0
1.95
Table 7. Trial blast results with felid application of TUNNEL BLAST software
10. Conclusions
The reviews on the developments in rock mass damage and contour blasting brings an
important information on field application of controlled blasting and damage assessment
and control The contributions of CIMFR on special tunnel blasting techniques resulted in
improvement of both productivity and safety. The following conclusions can be drawn
based on the various topics discussed in the paper:
i.
Application of this techniques resulted in saving the time of 75-80% and cost of 60%95% in comparison to the conventional shaft sinking method at three different projects
ii. Lake Tap Blasting of a 4 m thick 40 m2 cross sectional area was carried out as of fist of
its kind with indigenous technology in India by CMRI (now CIMFR) at granitic rock
mass in Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO), which could
save Crores of national exchequer.
iii. Ultra cautious blasting techniques were adopted as an extremely cautious approach, for
removal of 10 reinforced concrete plugs, each of 125 m3 volume, without causing any
500
damage to the surrounding periphery and pier nose in Srisailam left bank project of the
APPGENCO while the power house was in running condition.
iv. Successful application of in-hole delay cut blasting method at basaltic rock mass and
gneiss rock mass improved average face pull improve by nearly 30-50%. Blast vibration
intensity reduces by 20 to 25% which resulted in reduction of the overbreak
proportionately.
v. Bottom hole decking technique resulted in the overall progress/pull per round of 36%
with 1.5 deep rounds and 22% with 1.8 m deep rounds even with the powder factor
improvement (ton/kg) upto 70%.
vi. Application of sand stemming device for horizontal blast holes in place of conventional
stemming resulted in pull improvement of 5-10% in dolomite tunnels and 8-12% in
gneiss tunnel.
11. References
Bieniawski, Z. T., (1993). Classification of rock masses for engineering: the RMR system and
future trends. In J.A. Hudson (Ed.), Comprehensive rock engineering: principles,
practice, and projects, Oxford: Pergamon Press. V.4, pp. 553-573
Calder, P. N. and Bauer, A. (1983). Presplit blast design for open pit and underground
mines, 5th International Cong. on Rock Mechanics, Melbourne, Vol. 2, pp. E185- E190.
Chakraborty, A. K. (2002). Development of predictive models for optimum blast design in
mine roadways and tunnels under various rock mass conditions, Ph.D. Thesis,
Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, India, 298 p.
Chakraborty, A. K., Jethwa, J. L. and Dhar, B. B. (1996b). Predicting powder factor in mixedface condition: development of a correlation based on investigations in a tunnel
through basaltic flows, Engineering Geology, Elsevier Science B.V., Netherlands, No.
47, pp. 31-41.
Chakraborty, A. K., Murthy, VMSR and Jethwa, J.L. (1996a). Blasting problems in
underground construction through Deccan Trap formation: Some experiences at
Koyna Hydro-electric Project, Stage IV , Tunnelling & Underground Space Technology,
Elsevier Science Ltd., Great Britain, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 311-324.
Chakraborty, A. K., Murthy, VMSR, Jhanwar, J. C., Raina, A. K., Ramulu, M. and Jethwa J. L.
(1998). Final report on Development of Rock Mass Classification for Computer
Aided Tunnel Blast Design, Grant-in-Aid Project funded by Ministry of Water
Resources, Govt. of India, 136 pp.
du Pont, E.I., (1977). Blasters hand book, 175th Anniversary edition, E.I. du Pont de
Nemours, Inc., Wilmington, Delaware. Pp.526-541.
Duvall, W. I. and Atchion, T. C. (1957). Rock breakage by explosives, USBM, RI 5356,
Explosives Reference Database on CD-Rom, International Society of Explosives
Engineers, Ohio, USA, 1997.
Gupta, R. N., Singh, R. B., Adhikari, G. R. and Singh, B. (1988). Controlled Blasting for
Underground Excavation, International Symposium on Underground Engineering, 1417 Apr., New Delhi, India, pp. 449-460.
Holmberg, R., and Persson, P. A. (1978). The Swedish approach to contour blasting, Proc. of
Annual Conference on Explosives and Blasting Research, Explosives Reference
Database on CD-Rom, International Society of Explosives Engineers, Ohio, USA, 1997.
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Itasca Consulting Group Inc. (2202). Partcile Flow Code in 2 Diemnsions Theory &
Background, Mnneapolis, USA. p. 1.1-1.28.
Jensen, R. P. and Preece, D. S. (1999). Modelling explosive/rock interaction during presplitting using ALE computational method, Proc. 6th. International Symposium for
Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, The South African Inst. of Mining and Metall.,
Johannesburg, Aug. 8-12, pp. 199-202.
Johansen, J. (1998). Modern trends in tunnelling and blast design, IDL Industries Ltd.,
Hyderabad, India, pp. 34-41.
Langefors, U. and Kihlstrom, B. (1973). The Modern Technique of Rock Blasting, John Willey &
Sons, pp. 188-257, 299-301.
Leu S. S., Lin S. -F., Chen C. K. And Wang S. -W. (1998). Analysis of powder factors for
tunnel blasting using neural networks, The Int. Journal for Blasting and
fragmentation, Balkema A. A. , Netherlands, Vol. 2., No. 4, pp. 433-448.
Liu, L. and Katsabanis, P. D. (1996). Numerical modelling of the effects of air-decking/
decoupling in production and controlled blasting, Proc. 5th International Symposium
on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, FRAGBLAST-5, Montreal, Quebec, 25-29.,pp. 319330.
Livingston, C. W. (1956). Fundamentals of rock failure, Quarterly of the Colorado School of
Mines, Vol. 51, No. 3, Jul..
Lopez Jimeno, C., Lopez Jimeno, E., Carcedo, F. J. A. and De Ramiro, Y. V. (1995). Drilling
and Blasting of Rocks, Balkema A. A., Rotterdam, pp. 200-204 and 259-260.
McKenzie, C. J. (1994). Blasting for Engineers, Blastronics Pty. Ltd., Brisbane, Australia.
Olofsson, S., O. (1988). Applied Explosives Technology for Construction and Mining,
Applex, Arla, Sweden, 303 pp.
Ouchterlony, F., Nyberg , Sjoberg, C., Johansson, S-E. (1991). Damage zone assessment by
vibration measurements, Aspo hard rock laboratory, Progress Report, , No. 3, pp. 2591.
Pokrovsky, N. M. (1980). Driving Horizontal Workings and Tunnels, Mir Publishers, Moscow,
pp. 38-41.
Pusch, R. and Stanfors, R. (1992). The zone of disturbance around blasted tunnels at depth,
International Journal Rock Mech. Mining Sci. & Geomech. Abstr., Vol. 29, No. 5, pp.
447-456.
Pusch, R., Hokmark, H. and Borgesson, L. (1993). Characterisation of structure and stress
state of nearfield rock with respect to the influence of blasting, Proc. 4th International
Symp. on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, FRAGBLAST-4, Vienna, Austria, pp.175181.
Ramulu, M., (2009), Rock mass damage due to repeated blast vibrations in underground
excavations, IISc Dept.of CE PhD Thesis- G23635, 624.15132 P09, IISc Press.
Ramulu, M., Chakraborty A. K. and Sitharam T.G., (2009), Damage assessment of basaltic
rock mass due to repeated blasting in a railway tunnelling project a case study,
Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, Vol.24, pp. 208221.
Ramulu, M., Sitharam, T.G., (2011), Blast induced rock mass damage In underground
excavations -Applications to civil engineering projects, LAMBERT Academic
Publishing GmbH& Co. KG, 66123 Saarbrcken, Germany, ISBN (978-3-8433-93188)
502
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optimization of tunnel blasting operations, Proc. 3rd International Symposium on Mine
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Mining Industry, Vol. 104, Sept-Dec.,The Inst. of Mining and Metall., U.K., pp. A134A138
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pressure effects in bench blasting, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Maryland.
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CIM Bulletin, No. 998, Vol. 89, pp. 139-145.
20
Susceptibility of the GSM-R Transmissions to
the Railway Electromagnetic Environment
Stephen Dudoyer1, Virginie Deniau1,
Nedim Ben Slimen2 and Ricardo Adriano3
1Univ
1. Introduction
The Electromagnetic radiations are non-ionising radiations; they cannot involve the
ionisation of atoms or molecules. Nevertheless, they can cause various adverse effects. From
a biological point of view, they provoke heating due to the occurring of induced current in
the body. But, this issue will not be considered in this chapter. From a technological point of
view, they can cause malfunctions, permanent damages for electronic devices or
telecommunication systems. In this chapter we will focus on their impact on a
telecommunication system dedicated to the European railway and potential consequences
on the management of the railway network.
Today, the European railway network is undergoing significant changes, which aim at
deploying a unique management system in Europe which will replace local systems. This
unique management system called ERTMS (European Railway Traffic Management
System), involves the deployment of a telecommunication network dedicated to railway
management, the GSM-Railway network, in order to harmonize in Europe the system of
communication between the trains and the infrastructures. This harmonization is intended
to clear the technological boundaries between railway networks of European countries and
thus to remove border for trains. GSM-R is a key element in the management system as it
provides the vocal exchanges, but also the transmission of signalling data. However, as all
the telecommunication systems, the GSM-R can be vulnerable to the Electromagnetic (EM)
interferences and the railway environment is particularly rich in EM interferences. This
chapter will then focus on this issue.
After a general background about the electromagnetic interferences and the management
of the European railway network, we present the standards and approaches applied in the
railway domain to control the Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC). The GSM-R and the
EM disturbances which can affect it are then detailed. Finally, a methodology for testing
the vulnerability of the GSM-R transmissions and the test results are presented and
analysed.
504
2. General notions
Understanding the electromagnetic emission from the railway environment is important to
prevent and control electromagnetic interference. Currently, trains are more and more often
equipped with potentially sensitive systems from an electromagnetic compatibility point of
view. Consequently, railway systems have to be sufficiently robust to guarantee the safety of
the railway transportation. In this section the fundamental concepts related to EMC are
briefly introduced. For this purpose, the following definitions given in (IEC 60050, 1990),
International Electrotechnical Vocabulary (IEV), chapter 161, apply:
Electromagnetic environment: The totality of electromagnetic phenomena existing at a
given location.
Immunity (to a disturbance): The ability of a device, equipment or system to perform
without degradation in the presence of electromagnetic disturbance.
(Electromagnetic) Susceptibility: The inability of a device, equipment or system to perform
without degradation in the presence of an electromagnetic disturbance.
Immunity level: The maximum level of a given electromagnetic disturbance incident on a
particular device, equipment or system for which it remains capable of operating at a
required degree of performance.
2.1 Electromagnetic disturbances and electromagnetic compatibility
A system is electromagnetically compatible with its environment if it is able to operate
satisfactorily in its electromagnetic environment without introducing intolerable
electromagnetic disturbances to anything in that environment. Typically, an EMC problem
can be decomposed into three main parts. A source that intentionally or unintentionally
produce the emission, a coupling path that transfers the emission energy to a receptor and
the receptor that can be susceptible if the received energy exceeds its immunity level.
During their operation, electrical or electronic systems generally produce radiated or
conducted signals, which can lead to equipment malfunctions neighbours. The
electromagnetic disturbance term then assigns these signals that can be voltages, currents or
electromagnetic fields. In general, the higher the frequency of the electromagnetic disturbance
is, the more efficient the coupling path. It is important to keep in mind that the source and
receiver can be classified as intend or unintended. For instance, the GSM-R system
intentionally transmits and receives electromagnetic fields in some frequencies between 876
MHz and 925 MHz. Consequently, the equipment near the GSM-R antennas must be designed
to operate properly under the influence of the GSM-R signals. On the other hand, the GSM-R
antenna will collect all the signals generated by the railway environment at these frequencies.
Depending on the coverage of the GSM-R system and the levels of the electromagnetic
disturbances, the communication between rolling stocks can be affected or even interrupted.
2.2 Electromagnetic coupling
Electromagnetic disturbances produced by the emitter can be coupled to the receptor by either
radiated or conductive paths. The coupling mechanism can be classified into Conductive
coupling, Magnetic coupling, Electric field coupling and Electromagnetic field coupling.
505
506
The ERTMS (European Railway Traffic Management System) standard was then thought out
in order to remove these obstacles and to optimize the use of the European railway network
and to improve the reactivity, adaptability and affordability of the European railway. ERTMS
would allow the interoperability of trains on the European territory (Jaranien, 2005). This
standard is generally presented as composed of two main components, which are the
European Train Control System called ETCS, a standard for in-cab train control, and the GSMR (Global System for Mobile communications-Railway) system, an international wireless
communications standard dedicated to railway applications.
ETCS can allow automatically controlling the speed of the train if necessary. ETCS is
composed of trackside and on-board modules. The trackside module transmits information
to the train which enables the on-board computer, called Eurocab, to calculate the maximum
permitted speed.
Nevertheless, the implementation of ETCS requires major adjustments on the European
network, such as the installing of standard beacons called Eurobalise and GSM-R
deployment. Indeed, the most complete version of ETCS relies heavily on the use of GSM-R.
Three levels of deployment are then scheduled in order to progressively equip the railway
network.
In the first level ETCS level 1, the trackside equipment transmits information to the train
in order that it calculates its maximum authorized speed. The information given by the
trackside signalling (lights and traffic signs allowing the driver to know the permitted
speed), can be forwarded to the train by the Eurobalise beacons located along the track.
The second level ETCS level 2 includes a partial deployment of the GSM-R and
information can then be forwarded to the train by the GSM-R. The position of trains is still
detected by trackside systems but the trackside signalling is no longer necessary since all
information is transmitted directly to the train.
Finally, the third level aims to optimise railway lines capacity and further reduce the
trackside equipment. ETCS Level 3 is a major revision of the classic management system
which is based on fixed intervals between the trains. In ETCS level 3, the route is thus no
longer managed in fixed track sections but the intervals depend on the braking distances.
The trains find their position themselves by means of positioning beacons or sensors and
transmit the positioning signal to the radio block centre.
Then, this highlight the GSM-R is an essential and safety component in the management of
the railway European network and it is necessary to warrant its immunity facing the railway
electromagnetic environment (Midya, 2008).
507
(CENELEC), describing EMC for railway applications, or railway industry standards such
as Railtrack Group Standard GM/RC 1031 (GMRC1500, 1994), which provide guidance on
EMC between railway infrastructure and trains.
A complete list of standards related to railway applications is presented and discussed in
(Konefal et al., 2002), some of these standards are presented in the table 1 for convenience.
EN 50121 parts 1-5
CISPR/C/116/CDV
GM/RC 1500
EN 55011 (CISPR 11)
UMTA-MA-06-0153-85-6
UMTA-MA-06-0153-85-8
UMTA-MA-06-0153-85-11
508
Fig. 1. Emission limits according EN 50121-2. A=25 kV ac; B = 15 kV ac, 3 kV dc or 1.5 kV dc;
C = 750 V dc and bw1 = 200 Hz; bw2 = 9 kHz; bw3 = 120 kHz
The basis for the level derived in EN50121 has been the actual levels measured at a number
of railways sites around Europe. While the scope of this standard covers the frequency
range DC to 400 GHz, in practice limits are not set above 1 GHz. In general words, this
standard does not consider the wider impact on the radio spectrum, it mostly sets the actual
stage of the current levels around the railway structure.
Additionally, when comparing the EN 50121 standards to common EMC measurement
standards, it is noted that there are several crucial differences in the methods of
measurement. In many EMC tests, emission limits are specified in terms of a measurement
with a quasi-peak detector (QP). However, the use of a quasi-peak detector in EN 50121
standards is not possible due to the highly dynamic environment. For EN 50121, a peak
detector is prescribed.
509
the trains, they cannot be tested in nominal operating condition inside an anechoic chamber.
In this context, component and sub-system testing becomes very important to prevent EMC
problems.
Although the immunity levels presented in EN 50121 provide an overall view of the
railway electromagnetic environment, they are not suitable to perform immunity tests on
the on board components, especially in the case of modern communication systems such
as GSM-R. Additionally, high speed trains as other rolling stock apparatus are supplied
by a catenary. In this particular context the train can be considered as a fixed equipment
supplied by an electrical network. Consequently, EMC standard EN 61000-4-4 should
apply. This standard aims at defining a common and reproducible basis for the evaluation
of the performances of electrical and electronic equipment facing electrical fast transients
on its different inputs. It is clearly adapted to test the immunity of the electronics and we
would have referred to it if our objective had been to test the electronics of a GSM-R
mobile.
However, as it will be shown in section 7, the test signals defined in this standard EN 610004-4 differ significantly from the typical transient disturbances received by GSM-R antennas.
Additionally, as presented in (Knobloch, 2002), modern communication systems use
digitally coded radio signals that operate with a much smaller signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in
comparison to analogical ones. The explanation lies in the fact that digital data streams are
discontinuous and include redundancy to correct errors. (Knobloch, 2002) also points out
that peak detector or QP detectors are not suitable to convert electromagnetic disturbance in
some measure of deterioration in communication. Consequently, it is important to envisage
component immunity testing solution which permits us to evaluate the telecommunication
system against electromagnetic conditions representative of the railway electromagnetic
environment.
dedicated base stations, called Base Transceiver Station (BTS) installed along the
railway tracks, and connected to railroad control centres, through a wired network.
GSM-R antennas installed on the roof of train locomotives and connected through
shielded cables to GSM-R mobile on board the train, as shown in Fig. 2.
The base stations are generally spaced from about 3 or 4 km and the GSM-R signal level
has to be superior to -92 dBm, 95 % of the time and the space (UIC, 2003). In practise, the
power of the received signal on board train varies between -20 dBm at proximity of the
base station and -90 dBm at middle distance between two successive base stations
(Hammi, 2009).
510
Catenary
Catnaire
Antenne
GSM-R
antenna
GSM-R
Pantograph
Pantographe
Shielded
cable
Cble blind
Screen
Afficheur
Shielded
cable
Cble blind
Mobile
GSM-R
511
Fig. 3. EMIs received by GSM-R antenna and acting on the GSM-R useful signals
512
The generated wideband signal can easily cover the frequency bandwidth of the GSM-R
system. However, from the train side, the GSM-R transmissions are mainly vulnerable to the
EMIs covering the down-link frequency band. Indeed, on board trains, the signals emitted
by the GSM-R antenna (up-link) have power levels highly superior to the power levels of
the useful signals received by the antennas (down-link).
In addition, the GSM-R system uses frequency bands quietly close to the public GSM
bandwidths, and when public GSM base stations use the adjacent frequency bands of the
GSM-R, the risk for the GSM-R communications increases. This phenomenon is mainly
observed when the train is operating in the vicinity of a city, where public GSM base
stations and user numbers highly increase.
7.1.1 Transient EMI acting on the GSM-R useful signal
Measurement campaigns carried out on board moving trains (Hammi, 2009) showed that
the transient events, triggered when a bad sliding contact occurs between the catenary and
the pantograph, are the most penalizing events for the GSM-R useful signals. Fig. 4 (a)
shows an example of a transient signal recorded by an oscilloscope connected to a GSM-R
antenna. The analysis of a large number of transients collected on board trains showed that
their time duration is generally inferior to 20 ns (Ben Slimen, 2009), with a typical value of
5 ns and a typical value of the rise time is 0.4 ns. Fig. 4 (b) shows the maximal EM amplitude
generated by 284 successive transient events on the downlink frequency band of the GSM-R
in normal operation conditions. Each point in this graph links the rank of the recorded
transient and its maximal amplitude within the 921 925 MHz frequency band,
corresponding to the down-link frequency band.
These results show that these transients generate high level EMIs that can reach - 40 dBm.
Moreover, statistical analysis (Ben Slimen, 2009) of these transient disturbances highlighted
that they can be very frequent, especially on high speed lines.
Fig. 4. (a) Example of transient disturbance in time domain and (b) maximal EM power
generated by 284 successive transients in downlink GSM-R band
513
924.8 MHz
925 MHz
925.2 MHz
Last GSM-R
channel
Unused
channel
First public
GSM channel
Frequency
Measurements over 20 km
Fig. 5. EM measurement in different frequency channels used by the GSM-R and public
GSM along 20 km railway line equipped with GSM-R system
time
Fig. 5 shows clearly that the variation of the measured amplitudes into the unused
frequency channel and the last GSM-R frequency channel are partially similar to the EM
noise variation observed through the first public GSM channel. This result proves that the
public GSM signal sent through the first channel can disturb the GSM-R bandwidth, and
confirms that the public GSM signal can be considered as a serious threat to the GSM-R
useful signal. Indeed, as can be seen on Fig. 5, a signal of -44 dBm on the first public GSM
channel induces an EMI of -75 dBm on the last GSM-R frequency channel. Knowing that the
GSM-R signal level can decrease to a minimum value of -92 dBm (UIC, 2003), this
interference level can be sufficient to severely disturb a GSM-R transmission on this channel.
7.2 Impacts of the EM noises
According to the type of the disturbance affecting the GSM-R system, the effect of the
received EMI can vary. In fact, the transient events taking place between the catenary and
the pantograph are wideband disturbances that can affect all the frequency channels used
by the GSM-R system. It is obvious that the useful signal sent through the GSM-R system at
the occurrence of the transient disturbance will be somehow disturbed. In fact, compared to
the 3.7 s time duration of one GSM-R bit, the transient duration of some ns is quietly small.
So we need to investigate the real impact of such short time duration events on the
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interpretation of a disturbed GSM-R bit. This work will be presented in the next part of this
effort.
When it comes to permanent EM disturbances coming from the public GSM base stations,
the impact of these disturbances can be mainly observed when the GSM-R system is using
the last frequency channel and the public GSM system is using the first frequency channel.
So, even if the last frequency band of the GSM-R system is affected by the public GSM
signal, the useful GSM-R signal is not necessary affected. In fact, when such scenario occurs,
the GSM-R system could use different advanced protocols, mainly Euroradio protocol that
can allow the system to stand to such disturbances. However, when the whole GSM-R
channels are used, the system could be really affected by these disturbances.
However, among the current EMC standards, none methodology of immunity testing is
adapted to the GSM-R system and to the characteristics of the EMIs that it can meet in the
railway environment. The next section is then focused on a specific immunity approach to
this system in order to assess the real risks for the GSM-R transmissions.
Base
station
Establishment of a
communication
GSM-R
mobile
Communication channel
EM
disturbance
signals
Fig. 6. Principle of the employed methodology of test
or
Network
simulator
515
(1)
The Rxqual is a quality parameter measured by the GSM-R mobile and it defines the
quality of the received signal on a level from 0 to 7 (the lower the Rxqual is, the higher is
the quality). The Rxqual is linked to the BER calculated on the learning sequences
included in the GSM-R frames. The specifications defined in standards such as (ITU-T,
2003) require that the Rxqual is inferior or equal to 3 in order to ensure a good quality of
communication. A relationship exists between BER and Rxqual: each value of Rxqual is
associated with a range of values of BER (Lagrange et al., 1996) as can be seen in the
following table.
516
Establishment of a
CMU 200
communication between the
924.8 MHz
mobile and a network simulator
50 load
Loop back
GSM-R
Mobile
combiner
Combiner
-40dB
Directional combiner
Spectrum analyzer
Calibration of the
power levels
Amplifier
Analysis in frequency
domain
SMIQ
Public GSM
925.2 MHz
Signal generator
Noise generation
Fig. 7. Employed immunity test bench
8.4 Employed test signals
The GSM-R communication is established using the last useful GSM-R channel (924.8 MHz)
from the down-link frequency band. The power level of the signals generated by the
network simulator is adjusted so as to obtain a level of -70 dBm at the input of the GSM-R
mobile. That corresponds to realistic operational conditions on board trains.
As for the public GSM signals, the communication channel employed is the first one
(925.2 MHz) which is adjacent to the last useful GSM-R channel (924.8 MHz) used for the
tests. The level of these signals is variable in order to study the effect produced on the
quality of the GSM-R communication depending on the power level of the interference
signals.
The signal used to simulate the presence of transient signals is a double exponential
(duration=5ns, rise time=0.4 ns) modulated by a sinus at the frequency 923 MHz which
corresponds to the center frequency of the GSM-R down-link frequency band. The
corresponding mathematical expression is the following one:
S(t) A (e
1
t
D
- e
1
t
RT ) u t sin Ft
(2)
where D=5 ns, RT=0.4 ns, F=923 MHz and u is the unit step function.
The values employed for rise time (RT) and duration (D) result from a statistical analysis we
performed on transients collected on board trains during one measurement campaign (Ben
Slimen, 2009). Fig. 8 gives the time representation of this test signal.
517
Amplitude (V)
10
20
Time (ns)
Temps
(ns)
Time interval
Time
Fig. 9. Illustration of the time interval (TI) between the successive transient disturbances
The aim is, in a first step, to observe and quantify the impact of each type of interference
separately and in different conditions of test (different power levels for permanent
interferences, different time intervals for transient interferences). In a second step, the
combined effect of the two types of disturbances is assessed.
518
Fig. 11. Results of the BER measurement in the presence of public GSM signals
519
In Fig. 11, the public GSM signal has to exceed -20 dBm to start affecting the quality of the
GSM-R communication (the BER starts to increase). That means that the interference signals
on the 400 kHz adjacent channel have to be 50 dB higher than the wanted signal on the
GSM-R communication channel to deteriorate the quality of the transmission, which well
complies with the specifications (ETSI, 2000). Indeed, the standard EN 300 910 stipulates
that a mobile has to tolerate a 400 kHz adjacent interference level of -50 dB.
Then, we also notice that a level of -13 dBm is necessary to induce a Rxqual equal to 1. It will
be highlighted later that this level is different when transient interferences are
simultaneously present.
9.3 Impact of transient EM interferences produced by catenary-pantograph sliding
contact
These tests and measurements are related to configuration 2 in Fig. 10. The GSM-R signal
can be set to the desired value and the interference level produced by transient signals on
the GSM-R frequency band can be controlled by using a variable attenuator in order to
obtain the desired signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the mobile input. As for the measurements,
during a test sequence we vary the time interval between two consecutive transients and
one measure of BER is made for each chosen time interval. Then, the same test sequence is
applied with one other signal-to-noise ratio. Three different SNR at the mobile input are
tested: +5, 0 and -5 dB. The results are presented in Fig. 12 where the vertical axis of the
graph corresponds to the value of the BER in % and the horizontal axis gives the time
interval between two successive transients in s.
2.0
BER (%)
1.6
SNR = - 5 dB
SNR = 0 dB
SNR = + 5 dB
1.2
0.8
0.4
0.0
0
200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Time interval between two successive transients (s)
Fig. 12. Results of the BER measurement in the presence of transients for different values of
the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
The first thing to notice is that the BER evolves with the time interval between transients: it
increases with the recurrence of transients. Indeed, the BER is higher for small values of time
interval whatever the value of the SNR. In (Adriano, 2008), a relation was proposed to
estimate the BER from the TI between the transient interferences, under the assumption that
the SNR is equal to 0 dB.
520
The second thing to observe is that the SNR has an impact on the BER. Indeed, if taking the
curve obtained for SNR = 0 dB (at the mobile input) as a reference, we see that, when the
transient level is 5 dB higher than the GSM-R signal (SNR=-5 dB), the measured BER increases.
Consequently, the transmission could be more severely disturbed when the SNR decreases to 5 dB whereas, in the reverse case (SNR=+5 dB), the BER is lower (less than 0.4 %) which
guarantees a good quality of communication whatever the recurrence of the transient
interferences.
9.4 Tests and measurements in the presence of both types of interference signals
simultaneously
In this section, we now consider configuration 3 in Fig. 10: presence of permanent noise
and transients simultaneously with two arbitrarily chosen values for the transient time
interval which are TI=150 s and TI=550 s. The following graph, on the right of Fig. 13,
shows the results of the BER measurements in this configuration of test. The first curve
(black one with points) corresponds to the evolution of the BER without transient and the
two others (orange with squares and blue with triangles ones) with transients for the two
considered values of time interval. These values were chosen so that 3 transients can occur
during the time duration of one GSM-R burst in the first case (TI=150 s) and only one in the
second case (TI=550 s), as can be seen in the illustration on the left of Fig. 13.
2.0
Transient with time interval = 550 s
Transient with time interval = 150 s
BER without transient
1.8
1.6
1.4
RXQUAL = 3
1.0
0.8
BER (% )
1.2
0.6
150 s
550 s
RXQUAL = 1
0.4
0.2
0.0
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
- 15 dBm - 9 dBm
Fig. 13. Results of the BER measurements in the presence of public GSM signals and
transient signals with GSM-R signal power = -70 dBm at the mobile input
In the absence of transient signals (black curve with points), the public GSM signals have to
reach a power level of -9 dBm to induce a Rxqual equal to 3 whereas in the presence of
transient disturbances with a time interval of 150 s, a level of -15 dBm is sufficient. In other
words, the impact on the GSM-R communication of the transient disturbances "adds" to the
one of signals in the public GSM band. We thus conclude that the susceptibility of the GSMR to permanent noise is higher in the presence of transient disturbances.
521
Obviously, these results are linked to the GSM-R signal power used for the test (-70 dBm)
and we would obtain a better level of immunity if setting up the GSM-R signal to a higher
level of power. However, we are not going to develop this point in this chapter, since
further studies on the immunity of the GSM-R system can be found in (Dudoyer et al., to be
published).
10. Conclusion
This chapter outlined the major developments underway on the European rail network and
highlighted the electromagnetic vulnerability of the GSM-R which is a key component of the
management system. Indeed, immunity testing carried out in laboratory to confront the
GSM-R transmissions to EM disturbances representative to those measured on trains, have
shown that the quality of the transmissions can be significantly affected. The results of the
section 9 highlighted that the impact of the transient disturbances on the quality of the GSMR transmissions is linked to two main factors: the levels of noise produced on the GSM-R
down-link frequency band and the repetition rate of the transient disturbances. Moreover,
their impact can also be related to the presence of permanent interferences with the GSM
public. Consequently, the assess of the risks of disturbances of the GSM-R transmissions
requires to monitor the spectral distribution of the EM noise over the time, and with a high
temporal resolution which permits us to perform direct comparison with the transmission of
the digital data.
The current European standard methodologies of measurement of the EM emissions in the
railway domain (EN 50121, 2006) which only consist in spectral analysis of the radiated
emissions without taking into account the time dimension are then not adapted to the
control of the EM emissions in order to protect the GSM-R transmissions. This chapter
which proposed a methodology to perform immunity testing of GSM-R transmissions in
laboratory, has also highlighted the main features of the EM noise it is necessary to
characterize on board trains to ensure that the radiated emissions will not affect the ability
of the GSM-R system.
11. Acknowledgment
The authors of this chapter would like to thanks SNCB and SNCF to have given them access
to their trains to perform measurements in real conditions and also ALSTOM which
provided them specific railway equipment. This work was performed in the framework of
the RAILCOM project supported by the PCRD 6 and CISIT projects supported by the North
Region and the FEDER.
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