Abstract: In order to prevent the train overriding during a collision accident, the anti-climbers are usually equipped at the end of a train. However, from the investigations of some train collision accidents it is found that under some unknown conditions the energy absorbing capacity and anti-overriding function of anti-climber are greatly reduced due to the serious vertical buckling. A simulation strategy combining multi-body dynamics and finite element theory is proposed. With this strategy the dynamic buckling process of energy-absorbed anti-climber is reproduced. Besides that, the simulation results indicate that as the differences between the collided trains increase, the overriding speed between the adjacent vehicles increases significantly. When the overriding speed between two adjacent vehicles reaches 1.5 m/s, the energy-absorbed anti-climber has obvious vertical buckling during the train collision. Due to this reason, the collided anti-climbers will detach each other and lose its vertical constraint function. Moreover, compared with the stable crush under ideal conditions, the energy-absorbing capacity of vertical buckled anti-climber is greatly reduced, for example the average crushing force and absorbed collision energy are significantly reduced from 566.3 kN to 348.1 kN and 367 kJ to 169 kJ respectively.

Key words: electromechanical conversion coefficient, magnetic circuit optimization, ultrasonic vibration system, Giant magnetostrictive material, energy-absorbed anti-climber, overriding, train collision, vertical buckling