11 Jun Materials and Manufacturing | Axle bearing maintenance optimisation
Materials and Manufacturing
Axle bearing maintenance optimisation
Bombardier Transportation (Dale Hayter) / University of Queensland (Paul Meehan)
Research summary
As part of the Qtectic consortium, Bombardier Transportation has a 30-year contract with the Queensland Government to build and maintain their New Generation Rollingstock, where the axle bearings and bogies on which the axles are located are maintained every eight years. In response, this project examined methods to model and predict lubrication needs for axle bearings to determine an ideal maintenance timeframe.
Start/end date
6 April 2018 to 30 June 2019
Total contracted budget (including in-kind)
$2,620,200
Key achievements
- By analysing the bearing materials and studying the real effects of bearing wear, an accurate predictive model was developed for axle bearing wear.
- The model was able to compare the wear characteristics of different manufacturer’s axle bearings on specified routes.
- Validated models showed that the current maintenance cycles for two specific axle bearings studied could be extended under certain conditions, including optimal regreasing.