Virtual certification & smart planning - S2R-CFM-CCA-01-2018

Deadline: Apr 24, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

Specific Challenge:

Virtual Certification

The big challenge is a reduction of the duration and cost of the process for an appropriate authorisation to put a new train into service. Technically, the way to make a breakthrough in performance is to introduce progressively numerical simulations in a mixed virtual/experimental authorisation process, resulting in less field tests.

Virtual certification raises many technical issues which are to be studied in the different TDs of IPs. However, there is still a need of:

•   An appropriate coordination among relevant TDs to share generic technical methods when possible and to define, at the end, a comprehensive practical industrial process for validation of rolling stock sub-systems and systems.

•   A common interface with standardisation and regulatory bodies (ERA, CEN, CENELEC...)

The project shall aim, in collaboration with the connected activities within the CFM projects, at creating a very lean structure to handle these two roles in order to steer the projects outcomes in the standards and guidelines.

Smart Planning

In PLASA (S2R-CFM-CCA-03-2015 Integrated Mobility and Safety Management), the concept and a first prototypical implementation for an integrated Smart Planning simulation is being developed. The planning horizon addressed by PLASA is from tactical to daily capacity planning. One challenge here is to enhance and extend the concepts developed in PLASA to incorporate strategic capacity planning, to support investment and reinvestment decisions.

For a practical simulation concept that is able to describe the real world in railway traffic properly, further improvements (more detailed models) must be incorporated in the system to exploit the full potential of such a Smart Planning approach.

The aim for strategic capacity planning is to enable railway stakeholders to make the best decisions for the overall system, leading to an optimal allocation of funds to promote the best possible use of existing capacities.

This extension of the concepts developed in PLASA will require the development of methods for planning with incomplete data, e.g. capacity planning without precisely defined timetables, or yearly timetable planning without knowledge about minor construction sites and on demand freight traffic.

An additional challenge lies in increasing the level of automation of the model calibration process. Especially if the methods are to be applied in practice for daily capacity planning, extensive manual effort for calibrating the model to the specific task and question is not feasible. The R&I activities carried out under the present proposal should thus evaluate the possibilities for automation of the methods developed from the very beginning.

Scope:

In order to address the challenges described above, the proposals should address all the following work streams, in line with the S2R MAAP:

Virtual Certification

The project will be expected to:

•   make a state-of-the-art (results from previous research projects, such as Dynotrain, Pantotrain, Aerotrain, Acoutrain, Euremco... and bibliography work on the best practices in other industrial domains), a gap analysis and a barriers identification for the virtual certification in the different domains (traction, TCMS, running gear, braking system, etc.), including coordination with IP coordinators, TD leaders and other railway experts in order to share knowledge and new results obtained by the different TDs, as well as coordinating the dissemination activities

•   make an overview of :

  • o possible synergies with the activities on TD2.6 “zero on-site testing”;
  • o the generic scientific methods that are developed during the Shift2Rail initiative (advanced methodologies for numerical models validations, taking account of physical variabilities and modelling uncertainties ; methods to characterize properly the input parameters ; statistical approaches for reliability assessments ; mixed experimental/numerical approaches ; Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) techniques for bench tests ; validation criteria ; standardisation of software framework...) ;
  • o solutions found to overcome the non-technical barriers ;
  • o defined procedures, consistent with a V-model used for the pre-design, design and validation of sub-systems and systems

•   define a dissemination plan targeting the relevant standardisation bodies:

•   the work will consist in identifying the relevant CEN/CENELEC/ETSI/ERA WGs and their conveners, determining when official communication should be organised by synchronisation between the projects timelines and the ERA, CEN and CENELEC timelines. The participation of the European Union Agency for Railways in this activity as advisory body is requested, in order to guarantee that the outcomes are applicable and could be regulated. Additional support could be provided on all relevant areas coming from railways, infrastructure managers and industry.

•   In addition, available results of the Shift2Rail projects PINTA (S2R-CFM-IP1-01-2016), Mat4Rail (S2R-OC-IP1-01-2017) and RUN2RAIL (S2R-OC-IP1-02-2017) should be considered.

The work will be organised around three phases/tasks:

•   State of the art, gap analysis and barriers identification

•   Overview of the generic methods and the processes which are proposed by the IP1 TDs

•   Dissemination – Liaison with the standardisation bodies

Smart Planning, the objective is to reach a Smart Planning simulation concept (based on the previous results of PLASA) that is able to reproduce the real world railway situation and, in addition, that is able to forecast the effect of certain changes (disturbances, timetable changes, construction sites, ...).

Proposals should include:

•   Development of methods for simulation with incomplete data (e.g. long term capacity planning with not precisely defined timetables, yearly timetable planning without knowledge about minor construction sites, infrastructure availability, and on demand freight traffic)

•   Modelling of the impact of resource plans (e.g. vehicle scheduling, staff planning) for proper simulation of delay propagation between consecutive train runs

•   Case studies for a large national network and parts of the TEN-T corridors; case studies should address time perspectives between 30 years ahead for strategic investment decisions on the one hand, and daily capacity planning on the other

•   In addition, the available results of the Shift2Rail projects GoSafeRail (S2R-OC-CCA-04-2015) and PLASA (S2R-CFM-CCA-03-2015) should be considered.

The action that is expected to be funded under this topic will be complementary to the actions that are expected to be funded under the following topics:

•   S2R-CFM-IP1-01-2018 Development of technology demonstrators for the next generation of traction systems and adhesion management systems

•   S2R-OC-IP1-01-2018 Technical solutions for the next generation of TCMS

The action expected to be funded from this topic will also be complementary to actions carried out following the topics:

•   S2R-CFM-IP1-01-2017 Development of new technological concepts towards the next

•   generation of rolling stock, applied to major subsystems such as Carbody, Running Gear,

Brakes, Doors and Modular interiors (PIVOT)

As specified in section 2.3.1 of S2R AWP for 2018, in order to facilitate the contribution to the achievement of S2R objectives, the options regarding 'complementary grants' of the S2R Model Grant Agreement and the provisions therein, including with regard to additional access rights to background and results for the purposes of the complementary grant(s), will be enabled in the corresponding S2R Grant Agreements.

The action shall actively contribute to the S2R KPIs development. This shall lead to publicly available deliverable, quantified indicatively on a semi-annual basis.

The planned activities of the action should take into account the revised MAAP part A. The S2R JU will only fund one proposal under this topic.

Expected Impact:
The Action will contribute to:

Virtual Certification

The authorisation process for putting new rolling stock into service is largely based on full-scale field and line tests, which is long, expensive and capacity consuming. Moreover, it can only be performed at the end of the design process, which does not help to reduce the time-to-market.

The project brings the impact of clearly defining a new overall industrial mixed experimental/virtual certification process in order to support the competitiveness of the EU industry by:

•   harmonising and simplifying Traction/braking/TCMS/train dynamics assessment processes to decrease cost and duration via introduction of virtual tools

•   bringing proof tangible benefits for the end user through LCC reduction
  The degree of maturity of the envisaged solutions will depend on the domain, but the final results could reach TRL3. Also, recommendations for the revision of relevant standards could be provided.

Smart Planning

Actions are expected to help to deliver precise railway network simulation to support railway operational planning. A conservative estimate based on the current causes of delays in long-distance traffic showed that more than 40% of the overall delay time could be addressed by the research carried out under Shift2Rail project PLASA (S2R-CFM-CCA-03-2015). The research proposed here will bring these potentials closer to practical application.

In addition, the extension of the methods to long-term simulations with incomplete data will allow the support of strategic investment planning.

The action is expected to reach TRL3 by the end of the timeframe. Type of Action: Research and Innovation Action