The paper focuses on a nonlinear model to represent the mechanical behaviour of a mix coil spring – rubber used in the secondary suspension of passenger rail vehicles. The principle of the model relies on overlapping of the forces corresponding to three components – the elastic component, the viscous component and the dry friction component. The model has two sources on non-linearity, in the elastic force and the friction force, respectively. The main attributes of the model are made visible by its response to an imposed displacement-type harmonic excitation. The results thus obtained from the applications of numerical simulation show a series of basic properties of the model, namely the dependence on amplitude and the excitation frequency of the model response, as well as of its stiffness and damping.
To study the impact of suspended equipment on the ride comfort in a railway vehicle, a rigid flexible general model of such a vehicle is required. The numerical simulations is based on two different models, derived from the general model of the vehicle, namely a reference model of a vehicle with no equipment, and another model with six suspended elements of equipment mounted in various positions along the carbody. The objective of this paper arises from the observation that the literature does not contain any study that highlights the change in the ride comfort resulting exclusively due to the influence of equipment. The influence of the suspended equipment on the ride comfort is determined by comparing the ride comfort indices calculated in the carbody reference points, at the centre and above the two bogies, for a model with six elements of equipment and a model of the vehicle with no equipment.
This paper evaluates the level of the vertical vibrations in a railway vehicle carbody generated by the track irregularities and examines the position of the critical point from the comfort perspective. The issue is reviewed on the basis of both a „rigid carbody” model and a „flexible carbody” model, which considers the first two carbody bending modes. The model errors are calculated as a function of the speed behaviour, and the results prove that the comfort performance of a railway vehicle evaluated on the „rigid carbody” model basis are overestimated compared to the ones derived from the implementation of the „flexible carbody” model, mainly at the centre of the carbody. Similarly, a correct estimation of the critical point position in the level of vibrations requires the modelling of the structural vibrations of the vehicle carbody.
The equipment mounted on the carbody chassis of the railway vehicles is a critical component of the vehicle in terms of ride comfort. The reason for that is their large mass, able to visibly influence the vibrations mode of the carbody. The paper examines the influence of the equipment upon the mode of vertical vibrations of the carbody in the high-speed vehicles, reached on the basis of the frequency response functions of the acceleration in three carbody reference points – at the centre and above the bogies. These functions are derived from the numerical simulations developed on a rigid-flexible coupled model, with seven degrees of freedom. As a rule, the results herein prove the influence of the equipment mounting mode (rigid or elastic), along with the speed regime, upon the level of vibrations in the carbody reference points, at the resonance frequency of the symmetrical bending mode. Similarly, it is also demonstrated how the equipment mass and the damping degree of the suspension system affect the level of the vibrations in the carbody.