The locomotives load-bearing constructions resource prediction by operating conditions

The deterministic evaluation of the durability of railway rolling stock structures according to fatigue safety factors, established by regulatory requirements, does not fully take into account the random nature of loads that cause the accumulation of fatigue damages, the operation rate (operating time), does not allow to evaluate the operating life and its depletion over the service lifetime. At the same time, with the development of heavy and high-speed traffic, as well as due to the introduction of technical regulations, the task to evaluate and substantiate the assigned service lifetime and operating life of railway vehicles are becoming more important. The subject of the study, the results of which are presented in this article, was the fatigue strength of elements of locomotive basic parts. The purpose of the work was the prediction of their limit state by the operating life of critical elements. In the present work, design and experimental studies have been performed with running dynamic and strength tests of the locomotive in the entire range of operating speeds of its running, determining the stress-strain state of structures using strain-gauge methods, calculating safety factors with the probabilistic estimate of the fatigue strength of parts. According to results obtained, the influence of the operation loading performance on the fatigue strength margin and its depletion during the element operating life is shown. According to the results of this work, it can be concluded that main indicators of the strength, operating life and service lifetime of the locomotive make it possible to compare and link their key parameters for the subsequent analysis, substantiation, rating and control of safe operating life of railway equipment.