Abstract: An advanced roller test rig for rail vehicles built in China and algorithm of the rail vehicle stability test with the roller test rig are introduced. Since the roller test rig is used to model the functions of tracks, and differences between them exist naturally. So for a passenger car with speed of 160 km/h, its dynamic behavior is analyzed by using the theory of nonlinear system stability, and the limit cycles of passenger car's motion under different test conditions is obtained. By comparing them with the other hunting speeds, the influence of the state errors of the test rig on the stability test results of vehicles are found.

Key words: Critical velocity, Rail vehicles, Roller rig, Stability, Brittle material, Destructive detection, Nondestructive detection, Prediction model, Subsurface damage