Experimental and numerical tests of separated side lock of intermodal wagon

The object of the paper is to investigate the strenght of a separated subsystem of a wagon for transport of trucks semitrailers. The wagon designed in the Department of Mechanics and Applied Computer Science, Military University of Technology, allows easy and independent loading, transport and unloading without any special equipment or additional platform infrastructure. It is possible to utilize it for transport of various vehicles types such as tractors, cars, semitrailers, containers, heavy equipment. The tests presented in the paper concern a wagon separated construction element – a side lock. It is a key subsystem of the platform allowing transfer of its loads generated in the transport position (a wagon ready to go) to the form of longitudinal forces operating in the sides of the structure. The locks are simultaneously the most strained parts of the wagon. There were carried out the numerical analyses and experimental studies of a single lock were carried out. Owing to the application of Aramis non-contact optical system of strains measurement, the lock deformations as well as the areas of the minimum and maximum main deformations were defined.