Transnet Freight Rail predicts wheel wear with VI-grade railway solutions
Marburg, Dec 17th, 2015 – VI-grade, the leading provider of best-in-class products and services to bridge the gap between real world testing and technical simulation, today announced that Transnet Freight Rail, the largest division of Transnet, a world class heavy haul freight rail company that specializes in the transportation of freight, selected the VI-grade suite of railway solutions, based on VI-Rail.
The company, which is a long-standing user of the VI-grade simulation technologies, uses VI-Rail and the Wear toolkit specifically for the comparison of different wheel profiles and their effect on wear and rolling contact fatigue. Transnet Freight Rail operates two heavy haul lines. These lines transport iron ore and coal respectively for the export market. Rolling contact fatigue is one of the damage mechanism experienced on these lines that require regular and expensive maintenance in the form of rail grinding. Rail replacement due to rolling contact fatigue adds to the maintenance costs. In order to reduce the initiation and growth of rolling contact fatigue Transnet Freight Rail are assessing the relative performance of different wheel profiles as well as suspension configurations in terms of wear and the subsequent effect on rolling contact fatigue initiation. The wear toolkit provides a manner in which the different states of wear can be simulated and the effect of this wear on rolling contact fatigue be evaluated. Furthermore, Transnet are also re-evaluating wheel re-profiling limits to understand the effect of tightening or relaxing limits placed on re-profiled wheels.
“Many of these limits have a direct effect on the wheel wear pattern it should therefore be possible to comment on the monetary impact of each limit by evaluating and comparing the wheel wear patterns and wheel wear rates of wheelsets with variations bounded by the limits.” says Ulrich Spangenberg, Senior Engineer (Contact Mechanics in Wheel/Rail interaction), Transnet Freight Rail.
“The superior support from VI-grade’s technical and development teams and their “can-do” attitude towards requested customization and enhancements from time to time on VI-Rail, makes it an absolute pleasure to support our VI-Rail customers and gives us the confidence that anyone with a need so solve railway related problems using simulation, will be able to do so using VI-Rail,” says Paul Naudé, Technical Manager from ESTEQ Engineering.
“We are extremely happy to report this important success in the railway industry,” says Guido Bairati, International Sales Director, VI-grade. “This demonstrates the efficiency of our development strategies, always looking for new features demanded by the market, as well as the success of the collaboration with our resellers network. We are looking forward to expanding the usage of our solutions for wear and stress predictions within ESTEQ and other major railway companies!”
About VI-Rail
VI-Rail is the specialized railway simulation software from VI-grade. VI-Rail enables to quickly build a complete, parameterized model of a new railway vehicle, easily define its suspension, wheelset, wheel-rail contact, and other vital characteristics. Running through a battery of simulations it is possible to determine the vehicle’s stability, derailment safety clearance, track load, passenger comfort, and more. The performance of a railway vehicle design can be optimized virtually in the computer, before cutting a single piece of metal or running a single physical test. VI-Rail users can instantly see the effects of design changes on railcar performance in high-speed animation, easily detecting component interferences, excessive wear, instability, and performance limitations. Users can also plot key parameters in graphs to compare results from different designs.
About Transnet
Transnet is the largest and most crucial part of the freight logistics chain that delivers goods to each and every South African. Every day Transnet delivers thousands of tons of goods around South Africa, through its pipelines and both to and from its ports. It moves that cargo on to ships for export while it unloads goods from overseas. Transnet is a focused freight transport company, delivering integrated, efficient, safe, reliable and cost-effective services to promote economic growth in South Africa. Transnet is fully owned by the South African government but operates as a corporate entity aimed at both supporting and contributing to the country’s freight logistics network. It aims at developing South African industry, reducing the cost of doing business, while at the same time operating efficiently and profitably.
About ESTEQ
ESTEQ is the leading supplier of Engineering Simulation solutions in South Africa. Their primary focus is to empower their clients to become leaders in their respective industries though providing technology which can solve the most demanding engineering & scientific problems, in the shortest possible times. ESTEQ believes in selecting the leading technology suppliers from around the world and backing this technology with a team of the best people to provide the highest level of service to their clients. This service starts with helping companies assess the business benefit they will get from implementing solutions, through to implementation, technology transfer, training, support and consulting. ESTEQ develops solutions which are tailored to their client's requirements. This involves a long term relationship of mutual trust and growth which can only be achieved in a partnership.