Hunting oscillation

Hunting oscillation is a self-oscillation, usually unwanted, about an equilibrium. The expression came into use in the 19th century and describes how a system "hunts" for equilibrium. The expression is used to describe phenomena in such diverse fields as electronics, aviation, biology, and railway engineering. Wheelset (rail transport) A classical hunting oscillation is a swaying motion of a railway vehicle (often called truck hunting or bogie hunting) caused by the coning action on which the directional stability of an adhesion railway depends. It arises from the interaction of adhesion forces and inertial forces. At low speed, adhesion dominates but, as the speed increases, the adhesion forces and inertial forces become comparable in magnitude and the oscillation begins at a critical speed. Above this speed, the motion can be violent, damaging track and wheels and potentially causing derailment. The problem does not occur on systems with a differential because the action depends on both wheels of a wheelset rotating at the same angular rate, although differentials tend to be rare, and conventional trains have their wheels fixed to the axles in pairs instead. Some trains, like the Talgo 350, have no differential, yet they are mostly not affected by hunting oscillation, as most of their wheels rotate independently from one another. The wheels of the power car, however, can be affected by hunting oscillation, because the wheels of the power car are fixed to the axles in pairs like in conventional bogies. Less conical wheels and bogies equipped with independent wheels that turn independently from each other and are not fixed to an axle in pairs are cheaper than a suitable differential for the bogies of a train. The problem was first noticed towards the end of the 19th century, when train speeds became high enough to encounter it. Serious efforts to counteract it got underway in the 1930s, giving rise to lengthened trucks and the side-damping swing hanger truck.