Computation of Common Normal Between Wheelset and Rail as an Optimization Problem

Computation of Common Normal between a wheelset and rail is a key problem in simulation of wheel/rail interaction. Such an algorithm must be robust and efficient. In this work, computation of location of the common normal is formulated as an optimization problem. This framework has the advantage of being able to use optimization techniques for determination of location of common normal as an alternative Newton method. The numerical results obtained using Trust-Region Method are presented.