Recap

In the last class you have learnt about

Mechanics of power transfer from motor to driving wheel
Derivation of tractive effort

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Objectives
On completion of this topic you would be able to know

Define Coefficient of adhesion

Typical values of Coefficient of adhesion
The factors affecting the Coefficient of adhesion
Methods of improving Coefficient of adhesion

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Coefficient of Adhesion
When the torque developed by the traction motor is more, the
tractive effort at the driving wheels is also more
This relation holds good only up to certain extent after which
any increase in motor torque does not increase the tractive
effort but causes driving wheels to slip

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Coefficient of Adhesion

It has been found that maximum value of tractive

effort at which driving wheels will not slip depends
on the adhesive weight over the driving wheels

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Adhesive Weight
The weight of the train on the driving axles only is called
adhesive weight
The gross weight of the train includes weight of the
locomotive to be moved on the track

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Coefficient of Adhesion
Coefficient of adhesion may be defined as
the tractive effort needed to slip the driving wheels to the
adhesive weight
It is represented by symbol
Tractive effort to slip the wheels

=
Adhesive weight
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Typical Values of
The values of coefficient of adhesion are
= 0.25 to 0.33 for clean dry rails
= 0.15 to 0.2 for wet or greasy wheels
= 0.2 to 0.25 for steam drive
= 0.32 to 0.45 for electric drive
=0.28, for diesel drive

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Factors Affecting the Coefficient of Adhesion

The value of Coefficient of adhesion is affected by the
following two factors
Speed of the train
The condition of the rails

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Factors Affecting the Coefficient of Adhesion

The higher the speed, smaller is the coefficient of

adhesion
If the rails are wet and greasy the coefficient of
adhesion is lower to when they are dry and sandy

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Methods of Improving Coefficient of Adhesion

Torque developed by the driving motors should be

uniform

Driving wheels should be distributed over a much

greater length

Treatment of track with sodium meta silicate

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Methods of Improving Coefficient of Adhesion

Sand treatment for temporary improvement
Supressing bogie pitching oscillations
Using A.C. motors with smooth variation of applied
voltage by Silicon control rectifier

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Summary
In this class we have discussed about
Coefficient of Adhesion
Factors affecting Coefficient of Adhesion
Methods of improving Coefficient of Adhesion

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