Siegbert Steidl

On Dynamic Analyses of Rail Vehicles With Electronically Controlled Suspensions

SUMMARY This paper presents the results of dynamic analyses conducted to investigate the performance of a rail vehicle system consisting of a passenger car, an inertial measurement unit for measuring accelerations related to the dynamic movement of the vehicle and for measuring the tilting angle of the car body, a digital control unit, and actuators to reduce the accelerations felt by the passengers. The control strategies are described. The method of multibody systems has been used to design the control systems. The nonlinear dynamics of a virtual vehicle system has been analyzed on the computer synchronously to the hardware realization of the vehicle system. The paper focuses on how advanced software tools can be applied by the rail vehicle engineer for designing advnnced rail vehicle suspensions and performing vehicle system dynamic analyses.