Research Article

Advances in Mechanical Engineering

2017, Vol. 9(2) 1–12
Ó The Author(s) 2017
Optimization of the target profile for DOI: 10.1177/1687814016687196
journals.sagepub.com/home/ade
asymmetrical rail grinding in
sharp-radius curves for high-speed
railways

Wei Zeng1,2, Yue Yang1, Wen-Sheng Qiu1, Huan Xie3 and Su-Chao Xie1

Abstract
Asymmetrical rail grinding in sharp-radius curves could reduce the side wear of railheads and enhance curve capacity of
rail vehicles. The wheel/rail contact performance and curve capacity could be further improved by the optimization of
the asymmetrical rail grinding target profile. In order to modify the target profile smoothly, the nonuniform rational B-
spline curve with adjustable weight factors is used to establish a parameterized model of railhead curves in the asymme-
trical grinding region. The indices of contact performance and curve capacity for different weight factors are obtained
using experiment design and service performance simulation. Two Kriging surrogate models are proposed, in which the
design variables are the adjustable weight factors, and the response parameters are the indices of contact performance
and curve capacity, respectively. The multi-objective optimization model of the target profile is established, in which the
objective functions are the two Kriging surrogate models of contact performance and curve capacity. The optimized
weight factors are sought using a nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II, and the corresponding optimal target profile
is obtained. The wheel/rail service performance simulation before and after optimization indicates that the contact per-
formance and curve capacity are improved significantly.

Keywords
Asymmetrical rail grinding, Kriging, nonuniform rational B-spline, sharp-radius curve, target profile

Date received: 9 October 2016; accepted: 9 December 2016

Academic Editor: Francesco Massi

Introduction improve the wheel/rail relation in sharp-radius curves

With the increase in speed and quantity of rail vehicles,
rail side wear has become important in sharp-radius
curves (for the passenger train operating at speed up to
250 km/h, the sharp curve means that the curvature
radius is \4000 m), and rail corrosion has fallen into
the category of rail damage.1 It may improve the gui-
dance ability by increasing rolling radius difference of
wheelsets, reduce the wear between flange and inner
side of rail, and prolong the rail service life three times
by means of asymmetrical rail grinding in sharp-radius
curves.2,3 A reasonable target profile of asymmetrical
rail grinding could guarantee the grinding quality and
significantly. Therefore, some researchers have focused
on the optimization of the target profile for asymmetri-
cal rail grinding in sharp-radius curves. In order to
improve the rail grinding quality in curves, and to
1
School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South
University, Changsha, China
2
College of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Shiyou University, Xi’an, China
3
School of Mechanical Engineering, Xijing University, Xi’an, China
Corresponding author:
Yue Yang, School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering, Central South
University, Changsha 410083, China.
Email: yangyue@csu.edu.cn

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2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

decrease the cost of rail grinding, Sroba et al.4 designed

several grinding target profiles with differential rail
gauge corners to obtain the optimal grinding target
profile in curves. For the purpose of obtaining a rea-
sonable rolling radius difference and reducing contact
stress, Jia and Si5 designed an optimal grinding target
profile in sharp-radius curves based on practical rail
grinding experience. Xiao and Liu3 took the corre-
sponding railhead silhouettes in differential rail cants
as the rail grinding target profiles and set the effective Figure 1. Force and moment of the wheelset in the creep
conicity, contact stress, and grinding amount as evalua- force moment guidance method passing through a curve.
tion indices to obtain an optimal rail grinding target
profile. For reducing the coefficient of derailment and
improving the travel safety, H Doi6 grounded the The principle of asymmetrical rail grinding
region of a rail gauge corner in a curve and optimized
The wheel/rail guidance of rail vehicles plays an impor-
the grinding target profile. Zhou et al.7 optimized the
tant role in the change of the movement direction. It
average wearing rail profile by the wheel/rail contact
includes two guidance methods that depend on creep
angle curve inverse method in curves, improving the
force moment and flange/rail contact. But the flange
wheel/rail contact status in curves. In order to form a
will contact with the inner side of the outer rail when
conformal contact, Zhou et al.8 optimized the grinding
the rail vehicle guiding depends on the flange in a curve,
target profile of 60N, which decreased the contact stress
which will increase rail wear significantly. Therefore,
of the wheel/rail and reduced the grinding amount
the optimal wheel/rail guidance method in a curve
greatly.
depends on the creep force moment. The force and
Previous work designed optimal rail grinding target
moment of the wheelset guiding depend on the creep
profiles in sharp-radius curves based on practical rail
force moment as shown in Figure 1.
grinding experience and determined the corresponding
The creep force moment M is calculated using equa-
grinding solution. Wheel/rail contact performance is
tion (1)3
drastically improved, and the guidance ability of wheel-
set for rail vehicles is enhanced. But the designed opti-  
ly S S 2
mal asymmetrical rail grinding target profiles are all M = 2j  ð1Þ
r R
determined based on experience: the parameterized
model of the rail grinding target profile is not con- where j is the creep coefficient, l is the effective conicity
structed. This means that the asymmetrical rail grinding of the tread, y* is the lateral offset of the wheelset center
target profiles cannot be adjusted smoothly and pre- off the pure rolling line, S is the half-distance between
cisely, which would cause the problem that the designed the contact points of the wheelset, r is the nominal roll-
asymmetrical rail grinding target profiles are sub-opti- ing radius, and R is the curvature radius. The assump-
mal; the grinding quality could not be guaranteed either. tion underlying the equation is the wheelset should
This work focuses on the construction of a parame- have an appropriate lateral displacement.
terized model of the asymmetrical rail grinding target l and y* are calculated in equations (2) and (3)
profile using the nonuniform rational B-spline accordingly
(NURBS) curve, taking weight factors of the NURBS
curve as the adjusted variables for the railhead curve of jro  ri j Dr
the parameterized model. It solved the problem of the l= = ð2Þ
r 2
target profile not being adjusted continuously and pre-
rs
cisely. Taking the weight factors as the design variables, y = y  y0 = y  ð3Þ
two Kriging surrogate (KS) models of contact stress 2Rl
between outer rail and outer wheel, and wheel-diameter where R is the radius of railway curve; ri and ro are the
difference, are constructed. A multi-objective optimiza- rolling radii of the inner and outer wheel, respectively; y
tion model of asymmetrical rail grinding target profiles is the lateral offset of the wheelset; y0 is the lateral offset
is established, in which the objective functions are the of the wheelsets in pure rolling; and Dr is the radius dif-
two KS models, and the optimization objectives are the ference between inner and outer wheel, respectively, cal-
minimum contact stress and the maximum wheel- culated in equation (4)
diameter difference. Then, the precise optimal asymme-
trical rail grinding target profile is designed using a Dr = jro  ri j = 2ly ð4Þ
multi-objective global optimization method.
Zeng et al. 3

cubic NURBS curve will be able to meet the require-

ments of engineering applications in practical settings.11
Therefore, the cubic NURBS curve is selected to estab-
lish the parameterized model of the railhead curve.

The NURBS curve

An NURBS curve of degree p10 could be defined as
Figure 2. Asymmetrical rail grinding region in a sharp-radius
curve.
follows

P
n
Ni, p ðuÞwi Pi
From equations (1)–(4), the effective conicity of the i=0
C ðu Þ = Pn , aub ð5Þ
tread J and the lateral offset y* will increase with Dr Ni, p ðuÞwi
when the lateral offset y remains constant, and the i=0
creep force moment M will also increase. It is beneficial where {Pi} are the reference points, {wi} are the weight
for the wheelset to pass through the curve using the factors, and {Ni,p(u)} are the B-spline basis functions of
creep force moment guidance method, which means degree p that are defined in the aperiodic and nonuni-
that the wheel/rail correlation will be improved. form knot vector U (u0, u1,., um). The {Ni,p(u)} are
With decrease in the side wear, the asymmetrical rail defined in equation (6)
grinding could also reduce the shelling defects in gauge
corner. But this requires grinding the gauge corner of 
1, ui  u  ui + 1
the outer rail, which will decrease the rolling radius of Ni, 0 =
0, others
the outer wheel; the guidance ability of wheelset will u  ui ui + p + 1  u
also decline.9 Therefore, the gauge corner of the outer Ni, p = Ni, p1 ðuÞ + Ni + 1, p1 ðuÞ
ui + p  ui ui + p + 1  ui + 1
rail is not the key grinding region,3 and it will not be
ground in this work. The key regions of asymmetrical ð6Þ
rail grinding are shown in Figure 2. where U is calculated in equation (3)
The contact point of the outer rail in a curve moves
8 9
from co to c0o , and the rolling radius increases from ro < =
to ro0 after asymmetrical grinding. The contact point of U = 0, . . . , 0 , u4 , . . . , um4 , 1, . . . , 1 ð7Þ
the inner rail in a curve also moves from co to c0o , and :|fflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflffl} |fflfflfflffl{zfflfflfflffl} ;
p+1 p+1
the rolling radius decreases from ro to ro0 . Therefore, the
radius difference between the outer rail and the inner
rail Dr increases from ro  ri to ro0  ri0 , which is benefi- Parameterization of the railhead curve based on
cial for the train to pass through the curve via the creep cubic NURBS curve
force moment guidance method, meaning that the curve
An NURBS curve is defined by reference points {Pi},
capacity of the rail vehicle will be improved.
weight factors {wi}, and knot vector U, and the curve
shape will change with the modification of any {Pi},
Parameterization of the railhead curve of {wi}, or U. In order to reduce computational effort and
asymmetrical rail grinding ensure the continuity and smoothness of the adjustment
of the target profile, in this study, we adjust the local
In order to analyze the corresponding contact stress region of the railhead curve by modifying the weight
smax and the rolling radius difference of the inner/outer factors {wi}, after which the parameterized model of
wheel Dr in differential asymmetrical rail grinding tar- the railhead curve based on adjustable weight factors is
get profiles, multi-groups of rail grinding target profiles constructed.
with different railhead curves should be designed. As The railhead curve of the 60N used in Chinese trunk
the asymmetrical rail grinding is aimed at a local region routes is taken as the object to construct the NURBS
of a railhead curve, the parameterized model of the rail- parameterized curve of the asymmetrical rail grinding
head curve must have the function to adjust the curve target profile. The curve segment that could contact
shape locally. An NURBS curve is a unified mathemat- with the tread, as shown in Figure 3(a), is selected to be
ical form that is used to describe standard analytical parameterized. Polar coordinates are used, using the
curves and free curves. It could also modify the local center of the railhead curve as the origin. Then, 23
shape of a curve by moving reference points or adjust- points are selected uniformly in the parameterized rail-
ing weight factors.10 Therefore, it is widely used in the head curve as the data points, considering the adjust-
curve parameterization of engineering structures. The ment accuracy and the number of the adjustment
4 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 3. Parameterized model of the asymmetrical rail grinding target profile based on cubic NURBS curve: (a) the railhead
silhouette of 60N and (b) the parametric railhead curve.

variables. The reference points {P1,., P25}, shown in

Figure 3(b), are reconstructed using the NURBS inter-
polation method.12 The knot vector U is calculated
using the chord length parameterization method,10 and
all of the weight factors {wi} in each reference point are
preset to 1. Then, the parameterized model of the
asymmetrical rail grinding target profile is established,
in which the segment of the railhead curve could be
adjusted locally by modifying the weight factors.

The adjustment of the railhead curve based on

adjustable weight factors
The region of the asymmetrical rail grinding is the out-
side railhead of the outer rail and the inside railhead of
the inner rail, based on Figure 2. It is also the region
controlled by the weight factors w16, w17, and w18 con-
trasting with the parameterized railhead curve shown in
Figure 3(b). Different asymmetrical rail grinding pro-
files, with differential railhead curves, will be obtained
by modifying the adjustable weight factors w16, w17,
and w18. The contrast of different target profiles with
differential railhead curves in the grinding region is
shown in Figure 4, when w16, w17, and w18 take differ-
ent values.
Simulation of service performance for
different target profiles
Evaluation indices of service performance for the
target profile
Reducing rail side wear and improving the curve capac-
ity of the wheelset are two important targets of
Figure 4. Contrast of railhead curves in the grinding region
with differential weight factors.
asymmetrical rail grinding. Reducing the contact stress
of the wheel/rail and increasing the rolling radius dif-
ference of the inner/outer wheel could achieve the two
targets.13 Therefore, the contact stress of the outer gui-
dance wheelset and the rolling radius difference of the
inner/outer wheels are taken as the two optimization
indices.
Contact stress of wheel/rail. Increasing effective conicity
usually reduces side wear, although it often increases
contact stress.3 Therefore, the wheel/rail contact stress
should be reduced. The maximum contact stress smax is
calculated in equation (8) based on the Hertz contact
stress14
Zeng et al.
Figure 5. Model of wheel/rail contact performance and curve passage capacity.
3P
smax = ð8Þ
2A
where P is the maximum wheel/rail normal force in the
contact zone and A is the area of the contact zone.
Rolling radius difference of the inner/outer wheel. As the
creep force moment M increases with the rolling radius
difference of the inner/outer wheel Dr, the vehicle will
pass through the curve following the creep force
moment guidance method. Therefore, Dr becomes an
important index to evaluate the result of the asymme-
trical rail grinding. In order to improve the curve
capacity of the wheelset, Dr should be increased as
much as possible. For the purpose of analyzing the
impact of different rail grinding target profiles on Dr,
the wheel/rail contact point trace line method,15 using
spline functions to fit the rail and wheel tread, is used
to obtain the y–Dr curve.
Simulation of service performance for different target
profiles
Simulation model. Different asymmetrical rail grinding
target profiles with differential railhead curves are
obtained, while the differential adjustable weight fac-
tors w16, w17, and w18 are taken to construct the
NURBS curve. In order to determine the optimal tar-
get profile, the wheel/rail contact performance and
curve capacity of differential asymmetrical rail grinding
target profiles should be analyzed in differential target
profiles. This analysis means that the contact stress s
of the outer wheel/rail and the rolling radius difference
Dr of the inner/outer wheel need to be calculated for
differential target profiles. A rail section with a right-
ward curve using the 60N rail is set in SIMPACK. The
radius of the curve is 4000 m, the rail cant is 1:40, the
track gauge is 1435 mm, and the super elevation of
5
outer rail is 120 mm. The running vehicles are the
CRH2 electrical multiple units, the tread of the wheel-
set is LMa (the concrete tread shape is shown in Figure
5), the wheel back distance is 1493 mm, the radius of
the wheel is 430 mm, and the travel speed is 80 km/h.
The simulation model of wheel/rail contact perfor-
mance and curve capacity constructed in SIMPACK is
shown in Figure 5, and the response quantities are
taken when the train passes through the transition
curve.
Simulation process. As the value of the contact stress s
between the guiding wheel and outer rail is a maximum
when the vehicle travels through a curve, the contact
stress s is selected as the index to evaluate the contact
performance of the target profile. Meanwhile, the roll-
ing radius difference Dr of the guiding wheelset is
selected as the index to evaluate curve capacity. Several
combinations of the adjustable weight factors w16, w17,
and w18 are obtained using the Latin hyper cubic sam-
pling method, and the corresponding railhead curves
are constructed using the parameterized model of the
target profile. Then, the corresponding data files are
imported to the analysis model to obtain the contact
stress s and the rolling radius difference Dr. The con-
tact point with maximum contact stress and minimum
rolling radius difference is selected as the data point,
when multi-point contact condition appears. The spe-
cific analysis process is shown in Figure 6.
KS models of wheel/rail performance and
curve capacity
In order to construct the multi-objective optimization
model of the asymmetrical rail grinding target profile,
the objective functions need to be established to calcu-
late the evaluation indices of many target profiles.
6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Figure 6. Simulation process of the wheel/rail contact performance and curve passage performance.

Huge computational and low optimization efficiency where b^ is the regression coefficient of variables, f(x) is
will appear if the simulation method, as shown in the base function, and n is the number of training
Figure 6, is taken to calculate the evaluation indices of samples.
the repeated target profiles. A KS model is a kind of Z(X) are the errors of random distribution, and their
interpolation method with a smoothing effect and mini- mean value is 0. Additionally, the variance is s2Z , and
mum variance estimation, considering spatial correla- the covariance is given by
tion of variables sufficiently.16 But additional time will      
be spent to construct a KS model, which would increase Cov Z ðxi Þ, Z xj = s2 R R xi , xj ð11Þ
the optimization time, especially when the sampling
points are huge. As it can forecast the dynamic trans- where xi and xj are any two points of the training sam-
formation trend of variables based on the spatial corre- ple and ½R(xi , xj ) is the correlation function, which is
lation analysis of sample data, a KS model is used to fit used to describe the relationship between xi and xj. As
the nonlinear characteristics of the wheel/rail contact the Gaussian correlation function is usually used in
stress and the curve capacity in this study. engineering applications, the correlation function could
be written as
2!
Construction of KS models   X
h
R xi , xj = exp  uk xik  xjk ð12Þ
Basic form of a KS model. A typical KS model is com- k =1
posed of two parts, a polynomial and a random distri-
bution,16 as in equation (9) where h is the number of design variables and xik and xjk
are the corresponding kth components of xi and xj in
 
^ X + Z ðX Þ
yðX Þ = F b, ð9Þ the training sample.
The response value ^y(x) and an estimated value of
where X is the surrogate model variable space and variance s^ at any point x can be calculated using equa-
^ X ) is the regression model determined by known
F(b, tions (13) and (14)
functions X that are calculated in equation (10)  
^ + rð xÞT R1 y  f b
^yð xÞ = b ^ ð13Þ
 
^ x =b
F b, ^ 2 f 2 ð xÞ +    + b
^ 1 f 1 ð xÞ + b ^ n f n ð xÞ
1  
^ T R1 y  f b
^

=b^ ½ f1 ð xÞf2 ð xÞ +    + fn ð xÞT ð10Þ ^2 =
s yfb ð14Þ
n
^ T ð xÞ
= bf
Zeng et al. 7

Figure 7. Construction of KS models.

Table 1. Value ranges of adjustable weight factors.

No. Adjustable weight factors Current value Upper limit Lower limit

1 w16 1 2 0
2 w17 1 2 0
3 w18 1 2 0

where rT is a relevance vector of length n, f is a unit col-
umn vector of length n, and b^ = ( f T R1 y)1 f T R1 y.
uk is the value of maximum likelihood estimation
(MLE), which is calculated from equation (15)
 mance s and curve capacity Dr under different combi-
1  2
MLE = max  h ln s^ + lnj Rj ð15Þ
uk .0 2 the analysis process, as shown in Figure 6. The corre-
where the variance s ^ is calculated by equation (14).
The relevance vector rT between an unknown point
and known sample data points could be calculated
after the correlation parameter uk is obtained. Then,
the response value of the wheel/rail contact stress s
and rolling radius difference Dr are calculated using
equation (9).
Construction of KS models. Taking the adjustable weight
factors w16, w17, and w18 as the design variables of the
KS model based on the parameterized model of the
asymmetrical rail grinding target profile shown in
Figure 3. The KS models of wheel/rail contact perfor-
mance and curve capacity are established in the con-
struction, as shown in Figure 7.
Several groups points of weight factors are sampled
in the experimental design method after the value
ranges of the design variables as w16, w17, and w18 are
determined. The indices of wheel/rail contact perfor-
nations of adjustable weight factors are simulated in
sponding indices are taken as the training samples to
construct KS models of wheel/rail contact performance
and curve capacity. And an error test method is taken
to guarantee the fitting accuracy of the KS model.
Experiment design
Multiple groups of sample points of adjustable weight
factors need to be obtained during the modeling of KS
models of wheel/rail contact performance and curve
capacity. The Latin hyper cubic experiment method is
used to obtain sample points of adjustable weight fac-
tors, as it could sample uniformly, thus avoiding the
data missing problem.17 The value ranges of the experi-
ment design are shown in Table 1.
8 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Table 2. Training samples of KS models.

No. w16 w17 w18 Evaluation indices of target profiles

s Dr

1 1.95249 0.541903 0.318814 1921.74 8.813

2 1.308123 0.232827 0.142763 1980.65 8.947
3 1.183405 1.680745 1.809266 2097.39 8.251
4 0.716476 0.968465 1.781071 2175.46 8.140
5 0.415517 1.544747 0.42564 3871.93 8.052
6 0.930009 1.445168 1.881367 2161.97 7.214
7 0.354314 0.40159 1.60301 1917.42 8.071
8 0.491981 0.314786 1.472026 2000.49 7.718
9 1.683554 1.061811 1.974346 2227.35 8.037
10 1.601516 1.949918 0.055824 3437.16 7.992
. . . . . .
29 0.288095 0.754156 1.122051 2277.86 8.237
30 1.536933 1.828776 0.849437 2018.11 8.593

The number of training samples is usually three
times the quadratic polynomial coefficient k in the
modeling of a KS model, and the corresponding coeffi-
cient k = (n + 1)(n + 2)/2, n is the number of vari-
ables.18 As the number of design variables in this study
is 3, so the number of training samples of the two KS
models is 30.
A total of 30 groups of adjustable weight factors are
obtained using the Latin hyper cubic experiment design
method, and the corresponding wheel/rail contact stress
s and rolling radius difference Dr are simulated in the
wheel/rail contact performance and curve capacity
analysis process as shown in Figure 6. The simulation
results are shown in Table 2.
KS models of wheel/rail contact performance and
curve capacity
The correlation matrix R and unit column vector f are
calculated based on the training sample of the KS mod-
els, as shown in Table 2. The correlation coefficients of
^ s and b^ Dr are calculated as follows
the two KS models b
 
^ s = f T s R1 s ys 1 f T s R1 s ys = 0:395
b
 
^ Dr = f T Dr R1 Dr yDr 1 f T Dr R1 Dr yDr = 0:005
b 
^ is calculated using R, y, f, and b
Then, R1 (y  f b) ^ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
 
1 ^ s = ½2:556,  2:462, . . . , 0:307,  0:247
R ys  f b
1

s
 where m = fTR21r 2 fuk. To guarantee the accuracy of
R yDr  f b ^ Dr = ½0:483, 1:131, . . . , 0:057, 1:831
Dr
The estimated value of unbiased variance s ^ 2 of KS
models is calculated using equation (14). Then, the cor-
relation parameters of contact stress and rolling radius
difference uks and ukDr are calculated using an MLE, as
shown in equation (15). The concrete values of the cor-
relation parameters are as follows
uk s = ½0:336 0:462 1:065
uk Dr = ½2:000 2:000 1:999
The relevance vectors rT are calculated after the cor-
relation parameters uk are determined, and the response
value of any unknown design point could be calculated.
Then, the KS models of contact stress s and rolling
radius difference Dr are constructed as per Figure 8.
The modeling time is 2.3 s, and the memory consump-
tion is 216.3 M.
Error test
To guarantee the fitting accuracy of the constructed KS
models of wheel/rail contact stress s and rolling radius
difference Dr, the root mean square error (RMSE)19 is
used to estimate the fitting accuracy of the two KS
models.
From equation (13), the mean square error (MSE) of
any response value of the KS model is
h i
MSE = E ^yð xÞ  yð xÞ2
1 ð16Þ
^2
=s 1 + mT f T R1 f m  rT R1 r
RMSE = MSE ð17Þ
the KS model, the RMSE must be a minimum and .0.
In the error testing, 10 groups of adjustable weight fac-
tors in Table 2 are selected randomly to plug into the
KS models to calculate the fitting values of s and Dr.
Then, the fitting values of s and Dr are compared to
the corresponding values simulated by SIMPACK in
Zeng et al. 9

Figure 8. KS models of wheel/rail contact performance and curve passage capacity: (a) KS model of s and (b) KS model of Dr.

Table 2. The RMSE values of the two KS models are

0.03119 and 0.04816, respectively.

Multi-objective optimization of the target

profile
Multi-objective optimization model
To decrease side wear and improve the curve capacity
of the rail vehicle, the contact stress value s should be
reduced and the rolling radius difference Dr should be
increased as much as possible. Therefore, the multi-
objective optimization model of the target profile is
established, in which the optimization objectives are a
smaller contact stress s and a greater rolling radius dif-
ference Dr, the design variables are the adjustable Figure 9. Interpolation process of adjustable weight factors
weight factors W{w16, w17, w18}, and the objective func- using NSGA-II.
tions are the established two KS models of contact
stress performance and curve capacity. The specific
form of the multi-objective optimization model of the KS model of curve capacity. w16, w17, and w18 are the
target profile is adjustable weight factors. Vcr is the critical speed.

find :w16 , w17 , w18

 
min : sðW Þ = fs ðW ÞT b
^ s + rT ðW ÞR1 ys  Fs b
s s
^s Optimization of the adjustable weight factors based
  on nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II
max :DrðW Þ = fDr ðW ÞT b
^ Dr + rT ðW ÞR1 yDr  FDr b
Dr Dr
^ Dr
s:t: The nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II
(NSGA-II) has a superior searching performance, and
0  w16  2
its computation efficiency of the optimal solution of
0  w17  2 Pareto is improved so significantly that it selects the
0  w18  2 individuals close to the Pareto front as the elite individ-
Vcr  300 km=h uals in the process of the optimizing.20 Therefore,
NSGA-II is selected as the multi-objective optimization
ð18Þ
algorithm to search for the optimum weight factors in
where s(W ) = fs (W )T b ^ s + rT (W )R1 (ys  Fs b
^ s ) is the equation (18). The initial pop size is 12, maximum gen-
s s
KS model of wheel/rail contact performance, and eration is 200, and the crossover probability is 0.9. The
^ Dr + rT (W )R1 (yDr  FDr b
Dr(W ) = fDr (W )T b ^ Dr ) is the whole 2400 interpolations of the optimization are
Dr Dr
shown in Figure 9.
10
Figure 10. Pareto noninferior solution of the adjustable weight
factors.
Table 3. Initial values and optimal results of the adjustable
weight factors.
Adjustable weight factors w16 w17
Initial value 1 1
Optimal results 0.910 0.324
The optimizing target of the NSGA-II is to obtain
the suitable adjustable weight factors that makes the
contact stress value s sufficiently small and rolling
radius difference Dr sufficiently large. That is to say, the
Pareto noninferior solution of the s and Dr need to be
searched. A relatively obvious Pareto front has been
formed after 2400 interpolations from the interpolation
process of adjustable weight factors, as shown in Figure
9. The Pareto solution of the s and Dr fluctuates signifi-
cantly in the first 450 interpolations and then converges
to form a relatively stable Pareto solution. The concrete
values of the contact stress s and rolling radius differ-
ence Dr remain at 1500 and 9.0, respectively. Therefore,
a stable Pareto noninferior solution of optimal adjusta-
ble weight factors, as shown in Figure 10, is found after
2400 iterations. And the optimization time is 4.7 s, and
the memory consumption is 591.3 M. The optimal
Pareto solution is shown in Table 3.
Service performance of wheel/rail: contrast between
original and optimal versions
The optimal weight factors of w16, w17, and w18 are
plugged into the parameterized railhead curve model of
the asymmetrical rail grinding target profile based on
an NURBS curve. Then, the optimal target profile is
obtained, as shown in Figure 11.
Advances in Mechanical Engineering
Figure 11. The optimal target profile of asymmetrical rail
grinding.
The wheel/rail contact performance and curve capac-
ity in sharp-radius curves are simulated using the pro-
w18 cess shown in Figure 6, in which the rail profile is the
optimal target profile, as shown in Figure 11. The time-
1 domain graph of contact stress and rolling radius differ-
0.580
ence is shown in Figure 12(a) and (b).
From the analysis of Figure 12(a), the contact stress
value in the optimal target profile is almost equivalent
with the original profile during the period 2.5–4.5 s.
However, it decreased rapidly to remain around
1500 MPa, which is smaller than the corresponding
value of 2250 MPa in the original target profile. This
decrease means that the wheel/rail contact performance
has been improved after optimization. From the analy-
sis of Figure 12(b), the rolling radius difference in the
optimal target profile is consistent with that of the orig-
inal profile during the first 5 s. However, it then rapidly
increased, which indicates that the curve capacity has
been improved after optimization. Therefore, the effec-
tiveness of the optimization method in this study is
verified.
Conclusion
This article constructed the parameterized model of the
asymmetrical rail grinding target profile in sharp-radius
curves based on an NURBS curve. The indices of
wheel/rail contact performance and curve capacity in
differential asymmetrical rail grinding profiles are also
simulated using the analysis model constructed in
SIMPACK. The optimization model of the target pro-
file based on the two established KS models of wheel/
rail contact performance and curve capacity is con-
structed and then the optimum target profile is obtained
by the optimization of the adjustable weight factors.
Our principal conclusions are as follows:
Zeng et al.
Figure 12. Contrast of wheel/rail contact performance and curve passage capacity between original and optimal versions: (a) time-
domain graph of contact stress and (b) time-domain graph of rolling radius difference.
1. The parameterized model of the asymmetrical
rail grinding target profile in sharp-radius curves
is constructed based on an NURBS curve. The
weight factors of the NURBS curve are taken as
the design variables, to adjust the railhead curve
in the region of the asymmetrical rail grinding,
and then the railhead curve could be adjusted
continuously and smoothly.
2. The indices of wheel/rail contact performance
and curve capacity in differential combinations
of the adjustable weight factors are simulated
using the model in SIMPACK. On this basis,
two KS models of wheel/rail contact perfor-
mance and curve capacity are constructed,
which provide a high-fitting surrogate analysis
model for the optimization of the target profile.
3. The multi-objective optimization model of the
symmetrical rail grinding target profile is pro-
posed, in which the objective functions are the
two KS models of wheel/rail contact perfor-
mance and curve capacity. The NSGA-II is
employed in order to optimize the adjustable
weight factors to obtain the optimum Pareto
solution of the weight factors. Then, the opti-
mum target profile of the asymmetrical rail
grinding is obtained by plugging the optimum
adjustable weight factors into the parameterized
railhead curve model. The optimal results indi-
cate that the wheel/rail contact stress value of
the guidance wheel decreased significantly, and
the rolling radius difference also increased,
which demonstrates the viability of this method.
4. It must be admitted that the proposed approach
is only validated by simulation, which cannot
validate the effectiveness of the approach. And
the actual physical experiment, combining with
11
the control system of the rail grinding vehicle,
should be carried out.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial sup-
port for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article: This research was undertaken at the CAD/CAM insti-
tute, Central South University, China. This work was sup-
ported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province
(grant no. 2015JJ2168), the scientific research projects of
Shanxi Province Education Department in China (grant no.
16JK2242), and the project (grant no. 51405516) of the
National Natural Science Foundation in China.
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