A study on fatigue life and strength of a GFRP composite bogie frame for urban subway trains

摘要

The objective of this study is to evaluate the fatigue life and strength of a GFRP bogie frame for urban subway train. The bogie frame was made of a GEP224 glass fiber/epoxy 4-harness satin woven composite. In order to obtain the SN curve for a composite material applied to composite bogie frame, the tension-compression fatigue test was done with different stacking sequence of warp-direction, fill-direction, and 0°/90°-direction, respectively. The fatigue test was conducted with stress ratio (R) of - 1, frequency of 5 Hz and endurance limit of 10~7. The fatigue strength of bogie frame was evaluated by Goodman diagram according to the JIS E 4207. The results show that fatigue life and strength of a GFRP composite bogie have satisfied the requirements of JIS E 4207. Also, the GFRP composite bogie frame had a good fatigue performance in comparison with conventional metal bogie frame based on SM490A, considering its weight.