Although airborne wear particles (AWPs) generated from wheel-rail contacts are the major source of particulate matter (PM) in subway systems, studies on reducing the generation of such particles in order to enhance air quality are extremely rare. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of applying water-lubricant (applying tap water) on improving air quality by reducing the mass concentration (MC) of AWPs from wheel-rail contacts at a train velocity of 73 km/h using a twin-disk rig. An optical particle sizer was used to measure the MC of particles with the diameter range of 0.3 μm~10 μm. The results showed that the generation trends regarding PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 were different for dry and water-lubricated conditions: all three PMs showed an increasing-decreasing trend with slip rate under dry conditions; however, they were almost constant with slip rate under water-lubricated conditions. The particle size distributions were also different for dry and water-lubricated conditions: the peak occurred in multi-modal with the largest peak at approximately 6 μm in diameter under dry conditions; whereas, the peak occurred in bi-modal with the largest peak at approximately 0.9 μm in diameter under water-lubricated conditions. In addition, MCs were mostly smaller under water-lubricated conditions than dry conditions except at approximately 0.9 μm in diameter. Applying water significantly decreased PM1~2.5 and PM2.5~10 by more than 95%. This caused a decrease in PM2.5 and PM10 by 48.1% and 78.5%, respectively. On the other hand, applying water increased PM0.3~1 (i.e., PM1) by 52.8%, possibly owing to the effect of water vapor and mineral crystals from tap water. Overall, these findings indicate that water-lubrication can improve air quality in subway systems by reducing the MC of APWs generated from wheel-rail contacts. This study may provide a reference for future studies seeking to improve air quality in subway systems by reducing AWPs generated from wheel-rail contacts by applying lubricants.

Rail wear in a curved track costs significant amount of maintenance efforts every year. The rail wear is affected by such parameters as train speed, curve radius, and insufficient cant. However, while the effect of train speed and curve radius to the rail wear is relatively well-known, the effect of the insufficient cant has not analytically researched sufficiently. In this paper, the effect of the insufficient cant on rail wear is studied using a multibody dynamics program, the Vi-Rail. The multibody analysis is performed using an EMU train model being operated in the urban railway. The hard track is utilized in the analysis. To identify the relationship between rail wear and insufficient cant. the wear analysis is conducted for various train speeds and curve radius based on the Archard model built in the Vi-Rail program. The analysis result reveals that, as the insufficient cant increases, the vertical and horizontal wear of the outer rail increases, but the wear of the inner rail does not show distinct trend.

레일마모는 열차의 주행안전 및 승차감에 미치는 영향이 크고, 소음․진동의 주요원인으로 작용한 다. 또한 레일마모가 발생할 경우 궤도구조의 파괴를 촉진시킴으로써 차량 및 궤도유지보수비를 크게 증가시킨다. 따라서 구간 특성 및 환경 영향 인자 등 현장에서 발생하는 마모 원인을 체계적으로 분석함으로써 마모를 저감할 수 있도록 차량운행 조건과 선로선형 및 궤도구조를 설계하는 것은 중요한 과제이다. 본 연구는 궤도의 성능 지표 선정을 위해 레일 마모 검측데이터간의 상관관계 분석을 수행하였으며, 마모 검측 데이터와 마모에 영향을 미칠 것으로 판단되는 주요 구간 특성 및 환경 영향인자를 바탕으로 CART(Classification Analysis of Regression Tree) 분석을 수행하였다..

레일마모는 열차의 주행안전 및 승차감에 미치는 영향이 크고, 소음․진동의 주요원인으로 작용한다. 또한 레일마모가 발생할 경우 궤도구조의 파괴를 촉진시킴으로써 차량 및 궤도유지보수비를 크게 증가시킨다. 따라서 현장에서 발생하는 마모 원인을 체계적으로 분석함으로써 마모를 저감할 수 있도록 차량운행 조건과 선로선형 및 궤도구조를 설계하는 것은 중요한 과제이다. 본 연구에서는 궤도의 효율적인 유지관리를 위해 궤도를 구성하고 있는 레일, 체결구, 침목, 도상 등의 요소를 고려하여 레일 궤도의 생애주기 거동 및 유지관리 특성을 분석하였다. 또한 축적된 진단/검측 데이터로부터 궤도 구성품의 건전도를 평가할 수 있는 방법을 정립하고 잔존수명을 예측하여 효율적 유지관리를 실현할 수 있는 기법 개발을 위하여 지하철 레일단면마모데이터를 이용한 구간 특성에 따른 시간-마모량의 확률적 분포 변화와 다중회귀 분석을 수행하였다.