Computer science masters student Joseph (first row, second from the left) attended the first High-Speed Rail collision testing facility project technical review meeting in Brampton in April 2015, along with Anemoi and CSR Sifang team members. Computer science masters student Joseph (first row, second from the left) attended the first High-Speed Rail collision testing facility project technical review meeting in Brampton in April 2015, along with Anemoi and CSR Sifang team members.

Masters student develops high-speed train collision testing software

Thanks to a UWindsor computer science masters student, China will see more accurate and efficient testing of its high-speed rail system.

Joseph Jiang’s innovative High-Speed Rail collision testing software will soon be used in China. Jiang started work on the software, Real Time Predictive Speed Analysis, as part of a commercial agreement between China Southern Railway Vehicle Crash Test Facility and Anemoi Technologies Inc. in Brampton, where Anemoi designs and supplies a high-speed train crash testing facility to be used in China.

According to Jiang, the software works in conjunction with an overall control system called the Facility Control System (FCS), which monitors the behaviour of testing vehicles in real-time and controls the force release.

“The software inputs the recorded data provided by the FCS and triggers the system to calculate the release speed and location predictively and quickly,” says Jiang. “The two being the key elements to control the testing vehicle to hit the barrier at the desired speed.”

The software is unique in that it implements an algorithm approach to efficiently solve the problem, whereas previous systems estimated release speed and location.

“Previous methods lead to the inaccuracy of crashing speed, compared to the desired one,” says Jiang. “The software is also an efficient one, as its running time is in mini second level.”

Jiang took up work on the project in 2014 under the supervision of professor Dan Wu, who says this software is the first of its kind. It will have huge impact on future crash tests for high speed rail, Dr. Wu predicts.

Academic Area: