European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering (ECCOMAS 2012) J. Eberhardsteiner et.al. (eds.) Vienna, Austria, September 10-14, 2012 NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF A HIL FULLSCALE ROLLER-RIG MODEL TO REPRODUCE DEGRADED ADHESION CONDITIONS IN RAILWAY APPLICATIONS B. Allotta 1 , R. Conti 1 , M. Malvezzi 2 , E. Meli 1 , L. Pugi 1 and A. Ridolfi 1 1 Department of Energy Engineering University of Florence, via S. Marta n. 3, 50139 Firenze, Italy e-mail: {benedetto.allotta,roberto.conti,enrico.meli,luca.pugi,a.ridolfi}@unifi.it 2 University of Siena via Roma n. 56, Siena, Italy e-mail: malvezzi@dii.unisi.it Keywords: Wheel Sliding Protection, Antiskid, simulated HIL (sHIL), degraded adhesion, fullscale roller rig. Abstract. Development of high speed railway for commercial speed beyond the limit of 350km/h involves an accurate testing of on board subsystems. In particular, many safety relevant sub- systems like odometry algorithms, wheel slide protection devices (WSP) and anti-skid controls are influenced by wheel-rail adhesion conditions. The verification of these different devices necessary requires a deep testing activity. Usually, the testing activity consists of quite complex experimental tests mainly required by the technological improvements and the integration of different on board subsystems (braking, traction, signaling), the mutual interaction of which has to be carefully evaluated. Therefore, a wide use of railway vehicle roller rig for testing activities has been introduced. One of the most advanced testing device of Firenze Osmannoro is an innovative full scale roller rig with the aim of reproducing degraded adhesion conditions and testing both traction and braking equipment at high speed (over 300km/h). Innovative fea- tures are related to the simulation of degraded adhesion conditions since, on conventional roller rigs [1], sliding has to be limited in order to avoid a significant wear or damage of both rolling surfaces (vehicle and rig). In the paper the authors will present a numerical model of the HIL roller rig system, inspired to the Osmannoro Research Center, using Software In the Loop (SIL) approach. This approach can be defined simulated HIL (sHIL) approach since the simulated system has the same architecture of the HIL system but all the components will be completely simulated. The objectives of the authors, by means of the sHIL approach, will be the analysis of the controller performance and the dynamical effects on the roller-rig for different adhesion conditions both in case of traction and in case of braking, taking into account the influence of the safety on board systems (WSP and Antiskid). A particular attention will be given to stability and robustness issues arising from the complex interactions between the different mechatronic subsystems.