LABRADOR: Your new best friend for safer braking
Research short: The Low Adhesion Braking Model, developed with the University of Huddersfield, gives us valuable insights into improving braking performance.
Sharon OdetundeHead of Academic Partnerships, RSSB
Low adhesion season is now behind us for another year, and with that, many may start turning their attention towards other performance-related issues.
But the financial implications of the ‘autumn performance dip’ due to low adhesion are lasting. Costing around £290 million each year, this includes indirect costs to industry, passengers, and the wider society. That’s not to mention the risk to passengers and staff when braking performance is less than optimal.
How can we reduce costs like these and do a better job of keeping our passengers and workforce safe? It’s vital that we find ways to improve braking at times of low adhesion—and in general.
That’s why we—along with the University of Huddersfield, under our strategic partnership—have developed a model to help us better understand braking performance. It’s called the Low Adhesion Braking Model (LABRADOR).
And it’s starting to be used more widely in industry to optimise braking performance in a range of situations.
LABRADOR is a model that helps us understand and analyse the braking performance of a train. It consists of different modules, each representing a part of the brake system.
Users can set the parameters for each module, and, when combined, these modules create a complete model of the train’s braking system. This allows us to safely and cost-effectively study how any changes in the system affect the overall braking performance of the train.
LABRADOR allows users to input factors such as adhesion and gradient. It can simulate changes in adhesion along the train’s length due to factors like sanding and drying effects. The model also:
assesses the performance of wheel slide protection systems of different complexities
accounts for weight transfer during braking
models the dynamic characteristics of the brakes.
In a nutshell, it’s a comprehensive model that allows users to simulate and examine a range of aspects of train braking performance in a detailed and customisable way.
LABRADOR, then, is a valuable tool for understanding and improving train braking performance. It helps us analyse specific incidents of wheel slide and other issues, allowing us to implement better solutions.
Indeed, by allowing users to compare different brake control strategies and cost-effective train modifications, LABRADOR can assist train operators and manufacturers in optimising braking performance. This can be done by taking steps to modify:
train architecture
driver behaviour
automatic train operation algorithms.
LABRADOR is also being used in research, making use of the testing facilities at the University of Huddersfield. Recent studies there have found braking conditions that lead to the formation of squats (a type of rail defect). They’ve also found ways to reduce their occurrence with specific wheel slide protection characteristics.
Future developments for the model will see its use in the study of braking-related incidents to understand the causes of deep slides. Discussions are also taking place with train operators about using LABRADOR to look into the value of fitting different sander configurations for new trains.
LABRADOR is an essential tool in optimising the braking performance of trains. That goal is key to delivering a safer, more reliable, and higher capacity railway.
Want to learn more?
To read the initial LABRADOR research in full, head to our Research Catalogue.
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