APP下载

Preface to special issue on advances in research of railway train brakes

2023-02-02QingWuWeiWeiLucaPugiLucianoCantone

Railway Engineering Science 2023年2期

Qing Wu • Wei Wei • Luca Pugi • Luciano Cantone

Brakes in railway trains have a variety of forms such as air brake,eddy current brake and aerodynamic brake.Their primary functions are to slowdown and stoptrains,so as to ensure safe and efficient train movement.Brakes are indispensable and safety-critical systems for all types of railway trains includingpassenger(high-speed,metro,tram,etc.)and freight(heavy-haul,intermodal,etc.)trains.Safe and efficient railway operations require a good understanding of brakes from various parties including drivers,maintenance crews,manufacturers,and design engineers.Research helps to expand and deepen the knowledge about railway train brakes.Brake modelling and simulation date back to the pre-digital age.However,it remains a challenging topic to today due to many reasons including their nonlinear dynamic nature,complex devices,and the limits regarding parameter determination.

Brake models have mainly been used for train dynamics simulations and brake performance predictions.Brake monitoring is a lsoadeveloping topic and has been apart of trainhealth monitoring systems.The emerging smart autonomous railway systems have now increased the requirements for these topics.For example,autonomous trains,communication based train control,and railway train virtual coupling require even higher accuracy in predictions and monitoring of air brake systems.In the meantime,innovative brake designs are continually pursued.

Driven by the rapid development of intelligent transport systems and the ever-increasing demands for faster and heavier trains,as well as energy savings and sustainability,railway brake research has seen a new wave of interest from the industry and academia.

This special issue brings together a group of renowned experts in the field of railway brake research from around the world,offering a comprehensive collection of the latest developments and trends in the industry.After multiple rounds of peer reviews and editor deliberations,seven high-quality papers are selected for the special issue.The topics covered include train braking dynamics,brake distance prediction for intelligent transport systems,fast brake simulation models,brake system testing,and new fluid dynamic air brake models.

The editors extend their deep appreciation to all contributors for this special issue and hope that the documented new knowledge will inspire further research in the field of railway brake research.

Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License,which permits use,sharing,adaptation,distribution and reproduction in any medium or format,as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source,provide a link to the Creative Commons licence,and indicate if changes were made.The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence,unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material.If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use,you will need toobtainper mission directly from the copyright holder.Toviewacopy of this licence,visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.