Abstract: To study the mechanism of rail corrugation’s influence on axle-box vibration, a vehicle-track coupled dynamics model considering axle-box bearings is established. The wheelset is modeled as a flexible body using the modal superposition method to accurately capture the axle-box vibration response under rail corrugation excitation. Results indicate that the amplitude of odd-order flexible modes is significantly greater than that of adjacent even-order modes, playing a dominant role in the modal superposition process. Without rail corrugation excitation, the vibration amplitude difference between the flexible and rigid wheelset models is minimal. However, under rail corrugation conditions, the peak vertical vibration acceleration of the flexible model is 1.5 times that of the rigid model. Generally, as the wavelength decreases or the wave depth increases, the axle-box vibration response becomes more severe. However, since the wavelength affects the vehicle’s passing frequency, resonance may occur due to the axle-box bearing’s natural frequency, exacerbating the vibration.

Key words: axle-box bearing, rail corrugation, flexible wheelset, vehicle-track coupled dynamics, vibration characteristics