Under the background of economic globalization, more and more car-builders not only supply railway vehicles to domestic market, but also actively bidding international projects and deliver products all over the world. The railway vehicle design standards are significantly different throughout the world. Using carbody system as example, the popular standards include European standard system (EN), British standard GM/RT 2100, International Union of Railways (UIC) standard system, US standard system (AAR/APTA/ASME) and Japanese standard system (JIS). GM/RT2100 "Requirements for Rail Vehicle Structures", which was developed by the British Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), mandates requirements for the design and integrity of rail vehicles structures for both primary and secondary structures, including interior crashworthiness. From early 1990s, International Union of Railways (UIC) successively formulated UIC566-1990 "Loadings of coach bodies and their components", UIC651-1994 "Layout of driver's cabs in locomotives, railcars, multiple unit trains and driving trailers", UIC660-2002 "Measures to ensure the technical compatibility of high-speed trains" and other standards, which mainly stipulate the structural strength and testing of carbody strength, design of the cab, and the measures for technical compatibility of high-speed trains. Japanese Industrial&nbsp;Standards (JIS) E series standards belong to the railway industry, which stipulates the test methods of static load-bearing strength, impact vibration, and fatigue strength of the carbody, but there is no specific reference to crashworthiness. In addition, some country’s standard might have special requirement based on local conditions and culture. These various standards will inevitably raise different carbody design requirements. Among the standards mentioned above, EN and US standards are applicable to Europe, China, and America, which are largest railway vehicle markets in the world. European standard mainly includes EN 15227 and EN 12663, which defines the crashworthiness and structural strength requirements of carbody separately. The different categories in these 2 standards specify the detailed external load level corresponding to coach, metro, tramway vehicles, etc. Among US standards, ASME RT-1 and RT-2 defines the carbody structural strength requirement for light railway vehicles and heavy rail transit vehicles separately. APTA-PR-CS-S-034-99 applies to new railroad passenger equipment of all types, including locomotive-hauled, MU cars, and cab cars and non-passenger-carrying power cars and locomotives that are intended for use on the general railroad system of the US. This paper will introduce the history and characteristics of the mainstream rail vehicle standards worldwide and analyze the relationship between standard and vehicle design. Light Rail Vehicle (LRV), subway and commuter rail vehicle (multi-level vehicle) are selected as typical examples for the interpretation and application of US standard and EN standard separately. The 3 major requirements of carbody design, including static strength, fatigue strength and crashworthiness, are compared between US and EN standards to specify the general difference as well as the influence on the carbody design, such as material distribution, structure development, which could provide valuable reference for researchers and engineers in the rail vehicle industry to define and design new products more efficiently across different country’s rail standards.&nbsp;Keywords: EN, ASME, APTA, LRV, Subway, Multi-level Vehicle, Railway Vehicles

Study of Carbody Structure Design Under Different Standards

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2021/volume/85543

ASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE2021)

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