Objective  The distribution of wheel loads and axle loads plays a critical role in train operational safety and structural reliability, and the accuracy of wheel load calculation is an important prerequisite for the vehicle's top-level design. Current researches mainly focus on the axle load calculation, so it is necessary to study wheel load calculation methods.

Method  The study is conducted based on a three-car formation articulated suburban railway train. The carbody gravity borne by the secondary suspension of each bogie is calculated using force and moment equilibrium equations. Independent load analysis is performed for each bogie, systematically considering the influence of longitudinal and lateral deviations of the gravity centers for both carbody and bogie on wheel loads. Within the same coordinate system, particular attention is paid to effects on bogie wheel weights when the lateral positions of the gravity centers of two forwardly adjacent articulated carbodies are in the same or opposite directions. Wheel load calculation formulas for all bogie wheels in the entire train are derived and compared with multibody dynamics simulation results.

Result & Conclusion  The deviations between the theoretical calculation and simulation results for each wheel weight are within 2%, which is far below the engineering empirical limit of 5%, verifying the calculation accuracy of the proposed method.