Design of a Twin-Disc Rig for the Investigation of the Thermo-Mechanical Behaviour of Wheels, Rails and Brake Shoes of Railway Freight Waggons

The paper describes the design and calibration of an innovative scaled twin-disc test rig, which enables the investigation of both the wheel–rail and wheel–shoe contact interactions. The design of the main bench components, including the load application and tread braking systems, was performed to comply with specific scaling rules, allowing for an easy correlation of data obtained on the scaled bench with the real-world scenario. The preliminary calibration of the load application system and tread braking unit proves excellent repeatability and linearity, thus confirming the robustness and validity of the bench design.