Mechanical fatigue tests which consist of an alternate load and compression cycle show that droppers for 400km/h operation have cyclic mechanical strength of 300N with compression amplitude 0.05m. Numerical simulations for forces on the dropper during the passage of a train tell that dynamic forces can be varied up to 15% due to installation tolerance. Taking into account of the 15% variation, we end up with the maximum allowable peak load of 260N for the dropper. Peak value of measured forces on the dropper at the speed of 400km/h is 152N, which is less than the maximum allowable peak load of 260N. Conclusively, the possibility of fatigue fracture for the dropper is quite low.

• 조용현(Chief Researcher, Korea Railroad Research Institute) | Yong-Hyeon Cho Corresponding Author
• 이기원(Principal Researcher, Korea Railroad Research Institute) | Ki-Won Lee