Evaluation of structural safety of a tilting bolster

This study has performed the experimental study to assess the structural safety of a bolster frame that is applied to the bogie system of Korean tilting train. In order to achieve this goal, firstly, loading conditions imposed on the bolster frame were investigated. Based on the international standard and dynamic analysis, the loading conditions were derived. In this study, the dynamic load cases that consider the carbody tilting effect were established. The structural safety of the bolster frame was evaluated by static test under these static loads and the fatigue strength was assessed using Goodman diagram. From the assessment, the bolster frame has satisfied the structural safety. In addition, fatigue test was carried out up to 10 × 10⁶ cycles under tilting load condition established in this study. The inspection of fatigue crack using NDT method was conducted at 6 × 10⁶ and 10 × 10⁶ cycle.