Method for determining a braking distance

A computerized method for improving the accuracy of assessing braking performance of a vehicle during a braking procedure by estimating a total braking distance of a rail vehicle required for braking the rail vehicle to a complete stop using a friction brake as part of brake system performance assessment performed to ensure railway traffic safety compliance for the rail vehicle including the braking system, the method comprising:

• entering a value for a clamping force between a brake pad and a brake disc of the friction brake, a vehicle speed value, and an ambient temperature value;
• performing an initial calculation of a temperature value of a friction layer of the brake disc of the friction brake based on the entered clamping force value, the vehicle speed value and the ambient temperature value;
• performing an initial calculation of a value for a coefficient of friction between the brake pad and the brake disc of the friction brake based on at least the entered clamping force value, the entered vehicle speed value and the initially calculated temperature value of the friction layer;
• calculating an estimated partial braking distance value resulting from braking by the friction brake during an initial temporal interval of a plurality of interim temporal intervals;
• and
• calculating an estimated vehicle speed value resulting from the initial braking performed during the initial temporal interval,
• thereafter, iteratively performing:
• calculation of the temperature of the friction layer,
• calculation of the coefficient of friction between the brake pad and the brake disc,
• calculation of an estimated partial braking distance resulting from braking by the friction brake during one or more subsequent interim temporal intervals of the plurality of interim temporal intervals,
• calculation of the vehicle speed estimated to result from the braking during such one or more subsequent interim temporal intervals, wherein the iterative calculations are performed until the estimated vehicle speed equals zero thereby indicating the rail vehicle has stopped moving;
• and
• adding the calculated estimated partial braking distances predicted during the plurality of interim temporal intervals together to estimate the total required braking distance;
• wherein the iterative calculations performed in the estimation of the total required braking distance take into account that the coefficient of friction between the brake pad and the brake disc of the friction brake is dynamic by calculating and updating the estimated coefficient of friction and the temperature of the friction layer for all the iterative calculations performed over an entire temporal period of the braking procedure to assess the braking performance of the rail vehicle during the performance assessment performed to ensure railway traffic safety compliance for the rail vehicle including the braking system of the rail vehicle.