Success Stories

Professor Viktor Ushkalov, a Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and a researcher at the Institute of Technical Mechanics (Dnipropetrovsk), began working with STCU in 1996 when he was awarded a regular project (#238: “Theoretical studies and development of the substantiated recommendations for reduction of the rolling stock wheel-set and rail wear intensity in operation”). Devoted to reducing the factors which cause train wheel and railroad track wear, his investigations led to a Partner Project with an American company which involved modeling the vibration processes in these mechanical systems. Professor Ushkalov’s research has continued with another regular STCU project which is being directly applied to a given section of Ukraine’s railroad network. Professor Ushkalov holds eleven patents on his work in Ukraine and Russia. Building on his work with the American partner and the results from the regular projects, Professor Ushkalov has proposed Ukrainian retrofitting freight-cars with re-engineered wheel designs to greatly reduce wear and power consumption. A joint venture company is already manufacturing wheel-sets based on the new designs.