Keywords: finite element analysis, very high speed train, life cycle analysis, cork, glass fiber+resin composite, floating floor, sidewalls.

Industry railway passenger transport includes the production of new and the rehabilitation of old carriages, carriages maintenance, control systems, signage equipment, etc. In 2009, the industry generated approximately 47 billion dollar business worldwide. Sales of new carriages are expected to increase from 21 billion dollars in 2009 to about 39 billion dollars in 2015. The market is dominated by three large integrators (Bombardier Transportation, Alstom Transportation and Siemens Transportation), which together represent 79% of world production of new carriages. Over 200 potential customers for this market have been identified worldwide. This industry has been relatively conservative in technology, and the profile drawn up envisages a very strong global competition that provides an enormous pressure for innovation in their proposals and solutions, eco-efficiency and cost reduction. It is in this global context that this paper appears, seeking to answer the main drives of the integrators: innovation, eco-efficiency, performance and passenger comfort.

The main objective of this paper is to explore the application of a natural material such as cork in components for very high speed trains. The use of cork in the form of composite cork in innovative solutions for floors and sidewalls contributes to the achievement of the strategic objectives in reducing carbon dioxide emissions as a result of weight reduction (from compliance with the new European regulatory framework for the rail industry) and to increase thermal and acoustic comfort. The paper, therefore, develops solutions for integrating different composite materials to respond to the challenges listed above and to be sustainable. These solutions must be competitive with the currently used solutions and anticipate future developments of the international rail frameworks.

In this paper several floor and sidewall panels concepts have been analysed. During this analysis several experimental and numerical tests were made making extensive use of numerical simulations and the design of experiments approach, in order to meet the envisaged requirements of the standards. A life cycle test on the floor and sidewalls solutions was made. Specific studies of life cycle assessment (LCA) were made to compare environmental performance of the floor and sidewall panels to set the compliance with environmental requirements and identify possible variations in its design. This generated results for comparison between the actual solutions and the new innovative solutions for the structural, acoustic, thermal, humidity, fire and smoke as well as environmental behaviour. The two solutions that were developed and studied, when applied together, allow a total weight reduction of 5.61 tons for a TGV Duplex. During the product life cycle this enables an energy reduction of 2.42 GWh over thirty years and a carbon dioxide emission reduction of 646.83 tons over thirty years. Taking into account all these factors this work was successful and the developed innovative solutions have great advantages.

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