Welcome to the UPV/EHU University of the Basque Country’s railway dynamics website. The research team forms part of the Faculty of Engineering’s Mechanical Engineering Department in Bilbao. Our team is currently composed of 3 researchers with doctorates, 4 associate researchers and several undergraduate students working on railway dynamics and simulation, rail corrugation, wheel-rail contact computation and wheel profile optimisation. Some members of the team also teach undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the University.
On this website you will find information on our main lines of research, the results of a number of research projects, some specific data on team members, and also a complete list of publications. Many of them are available for download - please click the publications tab.
The research team has carried out several projects in recent years, and has been working on different lines relating to railway dynamics. The group chiefly focuses on the following research topics:
- Wheel-Rail Contact. Analysis and detection of contact points in 3-D. Application to sharp curve negotiation. Conformal contact analysis.
- Rail Corrugation. Approach to rail corrugation formation through flexible track models.
- Vehicle-Track Interaction. Analysis of medium/high frequency track vibrations. Construction of advanced railway vehicle models with flexible rails and discrete supports. Ballasted track and slab track comparison.
- Risk of Derailment. Investigation of creep forces at contact points and analysis of the influence of the wheelset’s yaw angle on the risk of derailment.
- Wheel Profile Optimisation. Use of genetic algorithms to optimise wheel profiles and improve the dynamic performance of railway vehicles.
RECENT NEWS
Merry Christmas!
October 16, 2024. 17:00h
Double conference in the School's conference room.
Speakers: Iñaki Barrón (President of the Commission for the Investigation of Railway Accidents CIAF): ‘Railway safety and accidents investigation’ and José Miguel Ortega Soldevilla (former Deputy Director of Metro Bilbao): ‘Sustainable urban mobility; the need for changes in transport systems’.
September 24-27, 2024
INNOTRANS 2024, Berlin
InnoTrans is the leading international trade fair for transport technology, held every two years in Berlin.
The UPV/EHU research team visits the trade fair this year and has the opportunity to see first-hand the latest developments in the sector, and to contact both with the suppliers of devices that are being used in ongoing research, as well as construction companies and related technology centers.
September 17, 2024
Academics4Rail annual meeting in Bilbao
38 participants from 15 European countries met in Bilbao on 17-18 September 2024 in the framework of the European railway research project Academics4Rail (Building a community of railway scientific researchers and academia for EU-Rail and enabling a network of PhDs).
The members of the railway dynamics research group from the UPV/EHU organised and hosted the event this year, following a first initial meeting in Berlin in 2023.
April 15, 2024
Our biggest congratulations to our colleague Rakel Robles, who has just received first prize in the TRA VISIONS 2024 YOUNG RESEARCHER COMPETITION at a prestigious Awards Ceremony during the TRA 2024 event on Monday, April 15.
The TRA VISIONS 2024 YOUNG RESEARCHER COMPETITION is aimed at Universities and Research Institutes for young researchers pursuing bachelor's and higher degrees (master's and doctorate) in all scientific domains related to transportation, sustainability, mobility, energy, engineering and related areas. The competition presents an opportunity for young researchers to showcase their work on an international stage at the Transport Research Arena (TRA) 2024 Conference scheduled for April 2024 in Dublin.
