Advanced powertrain modeling
Assess diesel-electric, battery-electric, hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen ICE, biofuel, and catenary-enabled architectures.
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Autonomie Rail
Model-based energy, performance, and controls simulation for advanced locomotive technologies
Built on Argonne’s Autonomie framework, Autonomie Rail provides a physics-based MBSE environment for evaluating the energy consumption and performance of a train composed of diesel-electric, battery-electric, hybrid, hydrogen, and fully electric locomotives, along with various types of railcars. It combines forward-looking train simulation, modular powertrain models, and controls development to support technology assessment, system design, and corridor-scale analysis.
Forward-looking physics-based model
Bond graph modularity
Controls evaluation
Route-based duty cycles
Component sizing & optimization
Network-level studies
Designed for technology evaluation, infrastructure planning, and rail technology advancement studies
Autonomie Rail Core Capabilities
Energy & Performance
Quantify fuel use, electricity demand, regenerative braking potential, power demand, and route-based performance.
Controls development
Develop and evaluate energy management and propulsion strategies using a forward-looking simulation approach.
Component to corridor
Run single-train studies or scale up to corridor and network analyses for scenario screening and planning.
Technology coverage
- Diesel-electric and baseline locomotive studies
- Battery-electric locomotives and hybrid consists
- Integrated hybrid locomotive concepts
- Hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen ICE pathways
- Biofuel and alternative-fuel assessments
- Continuous/discontinuous catenary scenarios
Typical applications
- Compare technology pathways for freight and passenger rail
- Screen electrification and catenary deployment strategies
- Estimate route-level fuel savings and energy demand
- Support techno-economic and infrastructure studies
- Evaluate operational impacts of emerging locomotive systems
What makes Autonomie Rail application unique?
- Forward-looking, physics-based simulation capturing real system dynamics
- Bond graph-based multi-physics modeling enabling modularity and reuse
- Plug-and-play architecture for rapid configuration of technologies
- Integration from component-level design to system and network-level analysis
- Scalable framework supporting large simulation studies