International Cooperation Projects

Selected Projects Introduction

l Railway Engineering System Dynamics-Overseas Expertise Introduction Center for Discipline Innovation (“111 Center”)

The Overseas Expertise Introduction Plan for Discipline Innovation of Colleges and Universities (111 Plan) is aimed at advancing the construction of world-class universities in China, which is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Education and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of the People's Republic of China. In view of the increasingly prominent dynamic problems and major national demands of rail transportation engineering caused by the increasing speed of high-speed trains, the increasing carrying capacity of heavy-duty railways, and the complex operating conditions of urban rail transit, the 111 Center of Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU) focuses on the key topics such as the stability and safety of rail vehicles, the dynamic service performance of railway infrastructure, the dynamic interaction between vehicles and infrastructure, and the environmental vibration and noise of urban rail transit. Closely collaborate with invited renowned scientists from world-class universities in the rail transportation, the 111 Center has been actively undertaking the domestic and overseas major researches, so that enhance its international competitiveness, advance the construction of the world-class discipline of rail transportation of SWJTU, and expand the academic influence of China in the rail transportation.

l H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015-RISEN: Rail infrastructure systems engineering network

Social and economic growth, security and sustainability in Europe are at risk of being compromised due to aging and failing railway infrastructure systems. This partly reflects a recognised skill shortage in railway infrastructure engineering. This project, RISEN, aims to enhance knowledge creation and transfer using both international and intersectoral secondment mechanisms among European Advanced Rail Research Universities/SMEs and Non-EU, world-class rail universities including the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (USA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Southwest Jiaotong University (China) and University of Wollongong (Australia). This project adds research skill mobility and innovation dimension to existing bilateral collaborations between universities through research exchange, joint research supervision, summer courses, international training and workshops, and joint development of innovative inventions. It spans over 4 years from April 2016 to March 2020.

RISEN aims to produce the next generation of engineers and scientists needed to meet the challenge of providing sustainable, smart and resilient railway infrastructure systems critical for maintaining European competitiveness. The emphasis will be placed on the resilience and adaptation of railway and urban transport infrastructures using integrated smart systems. Such critical areas of the research theme will thus be synergised to improve response and resilience of rail infrastructure systems to climate change, extreme events from natural and human-made hazards, and future operational demands. In addition, researchers will benefit from the co-location of engineering education, training and research alongside world-class scientists and industry users through this initiative. Lessons learnt from rail infrastructure management will be shared and utilised to assure integrated and sustainable rail transport planning for future cities and communities.

l Joint research into key technologies controlling noise and vibration for high-speed railways under extremely complicated conditions

As an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative, the pan-Eurasian high-speed rail network is challenged by a variety of complex conditions, such as higher speeds (up to 400 km/h), low temperatures of -50 °C, frozen soil, wide track gauge, mixed passenger and freight transport. The Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway is a typical example. These complicated conditions will greatly increase the difficulty of designing environmentally friendly high-speed rail systems. "Higher speed" intensifies the interaction of air–train–track–bridge–ground, resulting in stronger vibration and noise sources. "Extreme low temperature" makes the material harden, damping and air tightness decrease, which not only intensifies the wheel–rail interaction, but also deteriorates the vibration and noise reduction performance of the train and the track. "Mixed passenger and freight transport " requires track structure to be able to adapt to a large range of axle load and speed, which greatly increases the difficulty of optimization design of vibration and noise reduction. In addition, the geological conditions of "frozen soil" make environmental vibration control more difficult. If these problems are not solved effectively, they will hinder the smooth implementation of infrastructure connectivity of the Belt and Road Initiative.

In order to effectively control the vibration and noise of high-speed railway, the train or track should not be considered in isolation, but based on the interaction between the two. Mechanism analysis, model simulation, engineering design and field testing should be organically combined. It is against this background that this international cooperation project is proposed. The project is led by Southwest Jiaotong University and is jointly conducted by China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co., Ltd., CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd., and the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research of the University of Southampton, UK. The project aims at conducting cooperative research on the generation mechanism of vibration and noise of high-speed railway and key technologies of vibration and noise reduction under the above complex conditions. The following key scientific questions are answered: the mechanism and key influencing factors of wheel–rail high-frequency interaction and noise under complex conditions, the mechanism and key influencing factors of aerodynamics noise in bogie area under complex conditions, the generation mechanism and key influencing factors of vehicle interior noise under complex conditions, and the generation mechanism, propagation characteristics and key influencing factors of environmental vibration under complex conditions.

l Study on wide-frequency dynamics of high-speed railways and irregularity control

This collaborative project, between Southwest Jiaotong University, China, and Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, focuses on the wide-frequency dynamics of high-speed railways and irregularity control.  A dynamic model will first be developed for analyses of wide-frequency dynamics between Electrical Multiple Units (EMUs) and tracks in the presence of irregularities with wavelengths between 0.02 m and 100 m and at speeds up to 500 km/h. The railway dynamics will be studied at different frequencies, through which the transmission of wide-frequency vibrations in the EMU and track structures will be revealed.  Influence of low adhesion will also be considered. Special focus is placed on the wheel-rail impact at short-wave irregularities such as welds, corrugation and flats, and the influence of running speed.  Based on these results, critical values will be figured out for irregularities from the aspect of safety. Related control measures will further be proposed in consideration of the state-of-the-art in EMU and track maintenance, providing suitable technology for the 400+ km/h high-speed railway between Chengdu and Chongqing.

l Impact and damage mechanism of infrastructure subjected to ice-block detached from high-speed train

The project is focused on the key engineering problem of the impact and damage mechanism of infrastructure subjected to ice-block separated from high-speed through the collaboration between Southwest Jiaotong University, China and University of South Carolina, USA.  The damage formation mechanism, evolution rules and influence factor of the concreate specimen will be revealed. The relationship between the dynamical reactions in macro-level and the damage performance in micro-level will be studied. Considering the impact and damage mechanism of infrastructure subjected to ice-block detached from high-speed train, some threshold values or limit values determining the damage evolution will be presented. The prediction method of service life for infrastructure and related mitigation measures and control standards for damage will be studied. The obtained research achievements will provide technical support for ensuring the service safety of the infrastructure.

l Joint research into initiation mechanism and monitoring and controlling technologies of rail corrugation of metro lines

The project will conduct the research into initiation mechanism and monitoring and controlling technologies of rail corrugation of metro lines through the collaboration between Southwest Jiaotong University, China and Monash University, Australia. The project aims to construct a metro rail corrugation model based on field investigation of rail/wheel surface conditions, vehicle-track vibration and noise of China’s metro, in order to determine the key factors affecting the initiation and development of rail corrugation and to reveal its initiation mechanism. Mitigation measures for rail corrugation will be proposed based on the optimum structural design of track structure and the wheel-rail interaction. The grinding limit value and the grinding interval are determined will be determined through identifying the correlations among dynamic performance of vehicle and track, noise and rail corrugation. Finally, some technical theories and methods of metro rail grinding will be constructed to provide theoretical basis for working out China’s metro rail grinding technical standards.

l Investigations on rolling contact fatigue of wheel steel in high speed train

The project will investigate the service behavior of wheels in high-speed trains subjected to complex cyclic loading through the collaboration between Southwest Jiaotong University, China and Monash University, Australia. Systematic experiments will be carried out to reveal the evolution of cyclic plasticity and its relationships with the temperature and loading rate. Based on experimental results, a cyclic constitutive model will be established to cover some extreme cases, such as high strain rates and low temperatures. Finally, numerical simulations will be performed to investigate rolling contact fatigue of wheels by considering third contact medium, such as ice, snow and rain. Research findings will be helpful in developing new wheel materials in high-speed trains.