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Tractive Effort

Tractive effort refers to the pulling or hauling force exerted by a locomotive or other powered machinery to overcome resistance and move an object forward. It depends on factors like the power output, transmission efficiency, wheel adhesion, and weight on the driving wheels. Tractive effort is required to accelerate trains by overcoming the inertia of rotating parts and total mass, as well as to climb gradients by overcoming gravitational forces and to overcome train resistances like friction. The tractive effort must exceed these threshold values for the train to maintain or increase its speed.

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Muhammad Azfar
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397 views4 pages

Tractive Effort

Tractive effort refers to the pulling or hauling force exerted by a locomotive or other powered machinery to overcome resistance and move an object forward. It depends on factors like the power output, transmission efficiency, wheel adhesion, and weight on the driving wheels. Tractive effort is required to accelerate trains by overcoming the inertia of rotating parts and total mass, as well as to climb gradients by overcoming gravitational forces and to overcome train resistances like friction. The tractive effort must exceed these threshold values for the train to maintain or increase its speed.

Uploaded by

Muhammad Azfar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Tractive effort

Tractive effort refers to the pulling or hauling force exerted by a locomotive, vehicle, or any other type
of powered machinery. It is a measure of the force available to overcome resistance and move the
object forward.

In the context of locomotives, tractive effort is the force generated by the locomotive's traction motors
to propel the train. It is transmitted through the wheels or track interface to pull the train along the
tracks. Tractive effort is essential for overcoming various resistances, such as rolling resistance,
gradient resistance (due to slopes), and aerodynamic resistance (for high-speed trains).

The tractive effort of a locomotive depends on several factors, including the power output of its prime
mover (typically a diesel engine or electric motor), the efficiency of the transmission system, the
adhesion between the wheels and the track, and the weight on the driving wheels. Locomotives with
higher tractive effort are generally capable of hauling heavier loads or overcoming steeper gradients.

It's worth noting that tractive effort is distinct from tractive force. Tractive effort is the force exerted by
the locomotive's motors, while tractive force is the actual force experienced by the locomotive and is
affected by factors such as adhesion, wheel slip, and friction.
Tractive Effort
Definition: Tractive effort is defined as the force at the rims or the outer edges of the driving wheels of moving
trains. In other words, it is the sum of the tractive force and rolling effort on the road surface. In the main line
train, tractive effort is caused by the locomotive, and in a suburban train, it is caused by motor coaches.The
draw pull bar force is the horizontal force available for the vehicles for pulling the load. This force is less than
the tractive effort required to move the locomotive. The maximum allowable tractive effort that can be applied
without wheel slip is

Where μ is the coefficient of adhesion and Md the adhesive weight or weight on the
driving wheel.

Functions of the Tractive effort


The following are the functions perform by the tractive effort on the vehicles.

1. Tractive effort required to accelerate the train mass horizontally (in newtons) at an acceleration of α is

Where M is the mass in tonnes

2. The tractive effort required to accelerate the rotating parts: The rotating parts consist of wheels, gears,
axles and rotor of the motor. The moment of inertia of the wheel is expressed by the formula shown below.

Where Jw is the moment of inertia of the wheel, kgm2 and Nx is the number of axles on the
wheel.

N – the number of driving motor.


n1 – teeth on motor gear wheel
n2 – teeth on axle gear wheel

R – radius of the wheel, m


Jm – moment of inertia of one motor, kg-m2

Then moment of inertia of motor referred to wheels


Traction effort for driving rotating parts

Total tractive effect required for accelerating the train on


a level track.

Where Me is the effective mass of the train.The above equation


can also be written as

3. The tractive effort required to overcome the force due to gravity: When
moving up in the slope the drive has to produce tractive effort to overcome the force due to gravity.In railway,
the gradient or slope is expressed as a rise in meters in a track distance of 1000 m and is denoted by G.The
tractive force required to overcome the force due to gravity will be

4.The tractive effort required to overcome train resistance: The resistance of the train is
mainly due to various kinds of friction. The three basic types of friction responsible for the train resistances are
Coulomb friction, viscous friction and air friction.

The Coulomb friction is produced by the relative motion of the two surfaces. It does not depend on the speed of
the train. The viscous friction is directly proportional to the speed of the train, and the air friction is independent
of the speed square.

Where V is the speed of the train, and A, B, C are constants.

5. The total tractive effort required to move the train:


The positive sign is used for the train movement up-gradient and
negative for down gradient.

6. Motor Torque Rating:

Total torque at the rim of the driving wheels = Total tractive effort X R

where R is the radius of the driving wheels in meters.Total torque referred to the motor
shaft is expressed by the equation

where ηt is the efficiency of transmission.

Torque per motor

where N is the number of motors

When deciding motor rating, maximum gradient allowed while laying out down the track should be considered.

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