Horobets Y. Development of methods for estimation of the strength and durability of load-bearing structures of railway rolling stock

The thesis paper is devoted to the relevant task of development of methods for estimation of the strength and durability of load-bearing structures of railway rolling stock taking into account the peculiarities and conditions of railway rolling stock operation in Ukraine. The system of methods for estimation of the strength and durability of load-bearing structures should be improved as follows: to carry out operations for extending the service life and the control of important parameters of rolling stock simultaneously, in a single technological cycle of inspection of technical condition of load-bearing structures followed by reports and recommendations on their further operation; to identify and then monitor and evaluate the parameters of the rolling stock underframe (important or critical parameters) that may lead to serious accidents and emergencies; in light of the lack of reserved units of industrial transport rolling stock, precedence should be given to research methods not accompanied by the irreversible destruction of their structure. The actual, i. e. physical resource of the main load-bearing structures allows, as a rule, to extend their intended service life. The key part of the problem is finding the correct solution of the problem of extending the service life of bogie frames as elements of the rolling stock, the condition of which has the greatest impact on traffic safety. Given the sometimes insufficient level of maintenance, diagnostics and repairs by industrial enterprises and separate carriers, the scope of the said works should be supplemented by estimation of important parameters of rolling stock load-bearing structures, systematic monitoring of which should ensure their proper condition during the extended service life. The paper suggests improved methods and techniques for estimating the important parameters, namely: "statistical playback" method in estimating the life of a load-bearing structure, which renders it possible to carry out reasonable estimations using the minimum required amount of initial data; simplified calculation of the strength of a cracked load-bearing structure, which, in contrast to existing approaches, requires data on the configuration of the structure, the nature of loads and its mechanical and metallographic characteristics; methods for statistical estimation of the degree of uniform corrosion of industrial transport rolling stock structures focused on the use of equipment available in the conditions of maintenance and repair departments and enterprises; ranking of the operational quality of elements and change parts of rolling stock, which allows to rate their different classes and properties; models for estimating rolling stock service life based on the comparison of the operating life of load-bearing structures with the wide use of calculated and reference data.