Integration of Fatigue Analysis in the Structural Optimization of Railway Vehicles Components: Development and Application of a New Methodology

Rolling stock manufacturers are striving to minimize the environmental impact of railway vehicles, which are among the most vital solutions for mass transportation worldwide, including in emerging countries. Innovations in structural design and traction systems are the two primary areas of focus. Concentrating on the former, lightweight vehicle design plays a key role in reducing energy consumption during operational use. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, structural optimization processes can provide valuable support in the development of innovative components for the railway sector. The available literature shows that few studies have been conducted on optimization processes, particularly those applied to the bogie frames of railway vehicles. Bogies represent the most critical component of a railway vehicle due to the complex loading conditions they are subjected to during the vehicle running. Then, the possibility to actively monitor the fatigue performance of the component during its development can be crucial for the success of the design process. This work specifically focused on developing a automatic methodology capable of tracking such performance during a structural optimization process.The procedure was carried out on a bogie frame designed for a metro vehicle. The quality of the optimization process results has shown significant improvements.