Semi-active suspension systems for railway vehicles using magnetorheological dampers. Part I: system integration and modelling

In this paper, it is aimed to investigate semi-active suspension systems using magnetorheological (MR) fluid dampers for improving the ride quality of railway vehicles. A 17-degree-of-freedom (DOF) model of a full-scale railway vehicle integrated with the semi-active controlled MR fluid dampers in its secondary suspension system is proposed to cope with the lateral, yaw, and roll motions of the car body, trucks, and wheelsets. The governing equations combining the dynamics of the railway vehicle integrated with MR dampers in the suspension system and the dynamics of the rail track irregularities are developed and a linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control law using the acceleration feedback is adopted, in which the state variables are estimated from the measurable accelerations with a Kalman estimator. In order to evaluate the performances of the semi-active suspension systems based on MR dampers for railway vehicles, the random and periodical track irregularities are modelled with a uniform state-space formulation according to the testing data and incorporated into the governing equation of the railway vehicle integrated with the semi-active suspension system. Utilising the governing equations and the semi-active controller developed in this paper, the simulation and analysis are presented in Part II of this paper.     

Semi-active H∞ control of high-speed railway vehicle suspension with magnetorheological dampers

In this paper, semi-active H∞ control with magnetorheological (MR) dampers for railway vehicle suspension systems to improve the lateral ride quality is investigated. The proposed semi-active controller is composed of a H∞ controller as the system controller and an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) inverse MR damper model as the damper controller. First, a 17-degree-of-freedom model for a full-scale railway vehicle is developed and the random track irregularities are modelled. Then a modified Bouc–Wen model is built to characterise the forward dynamic characteristics of the MR damper and an inverse MR damper model is built with the ANFIS technique. Furthermore, a H∞ controller composed of a yaw motion controller and a rolling pendulum motion (lateral motion+roll motion) controller is established. By integrating the H∞ controller with the ANFIS inverse model, a semi-active H∞ controller for the railway vehicle is finally proposed. Simulation results indicate that the proposed semi-active suspension system possesses better attenuation ability for the vibrations of the car body than the passive suspension system.     

A semi-active control suspension system for railway vehicles with magnetorheological fluid dampers

The high-speed train has achieved great progress in the last decades. It is one of the most important modes of transportation between cities. With the rapid development of the high-speed train, its safety issue is paid much more attention than ever before. To improve the stability of the vehicle with high speed, extra dampers (i.e. anti-hunting damper) are used in the traditional bogies with passive suspension system. However, the curving performance of the vehicle is undermined due to the extra lateral force generated by the dampers. The active suspension systems proposed in the last decades attempt to solve the vehicle steering issue. However, the active suspension systems need extra actuators driven by electrical power or hydraulic power. There are some implementation and even safety issues which are not easy to be overcome. In this paper, an innovative semi-active controlled lateral suspension system for railway vehicles is proposed. Four magnetorheological fluid dampers are fixed to the primary suspension system of each bogie. They are controlled by online controllers for enhancing the running stability on the straight track line on the one hand and further improving the curving performance by controlling the damper force on the other hand. Two control strategies are proposed in the light of the pure rolling concept. The effectiveness of the proposed strategies is demonstrated by SIMPACK and Matlab co-simulation for a full railway vehicle with two conventional bogies.     

A model for vehicle–track random interactions on effects of crosswinds and track irregularities

A stochastic mathematical model is developed to evaluate the dynamic behaviours and statistical responses of vehicle–track systems when random system excitations including crosswinds and track irregularities are imposed. In this model, the railway vehicle is regarded as a multi-rigid-body system, the track system is modelled by finite element theory. These two systems are spatially coupled by the nonlinear wheel–rail contact forces and unsteady aerodynamic forces. The high efficiency and accuracy of this stochastic model are validated by comparing to the robust Monte-Carlo method. Numerical studies show that crosswinds have a great influence on the dynamic performance of vehicle–track systems, especially on transverse vibrations. When the railway vehicle initially runs into the wind field, it will experience a severe vibration stage, and then stepping into a relatively steady state where the fluctuating winds and track irregularities will play deterministic roles in the deviations of system responses. Moreover, it is found that track irregularities should be properly considered in the safety assessment of the vehicle even in strong crosswinds.     

Performance of spade-less wheeled military vehicles with passive and semi-active suspensions during mortar firing

Many armies are replacing heavy slow tracked vehicles with their lighter wheeled counterparts for their high mobility and better shoot and scoot capabilities. These features make the vehicle hard to track and target in counter-battery fire. However, when firing high calibre guns, spades are needed to connect the vehicle chassis to the ground, so as to transmit parts of the large firing force directly to the ground. Use of spades hinders the vehicle mobility, while elimination of them paves the way for having quicker and more mobile wheeled vehicles. In this article, vibration response of a spade-less High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle with a mounted mortar is studied and controlled using stock passive, optimised passive, and optimised semi-active dampers as primary suspensions. The spade-less vehicle with optimised passive and semi-active dampers has a better response in heave, pitch, and fore-aft motions and can fire with better accuracy compared to a spade-less vehicle with stock passive dampers. Simulation results indicate that the spades can be removed from wheeled military vehicles if the precautions are taken for the tyres.     

Modal Controllers for Active Steering of Railway Vehicles with Solid Axle Wheelsets

This paper presents the development of a modal control strategy for the active steering of solid axle railway vehicles and reveals benefits of actively stabilising the wheelsets of a railway vehicle. A modal decomposition is applied to a 2-axle railway vehicle to de-couple its body lateral and yaw motions and hence to allow more detailed analysis of the vehicle behaviour and more robust design of active controllers. Independent controllers for the two motions are developed based on the two de-coupled modes. Parameter variations such as creep coefficients and wheelset conicity are taken into account in the design process to guarantee a robust design. The study shows that, compared to a passive vehicle, the vehicles with actively steered wheelsets not only perform much better on a curved track, but also improve the ride quality on straight track. Computer simulations are used in the study to verify the development of the controllers and assess the system performance with the control scheme proposed.     

Modal Controllers for Active Steering of Railway Vehicles with Solid Axle Wheelsets

This paper presents the development of a modal control strategy for the active steering of solid axle railway vehicles and reveals benefits of actively stabilising the wheelsets of a railway vehicle. A modal decomposition is applied to a 2-axle railway vehicle to de-couple its body lateral and yaw motions and hence to allow more detailed analysis of the vehicle behaviour and more robust design of active controllers. Independent controllers for the two motions are developed based on the two de-coupled modes. Parameter variations such as creep coefficients and wheelset conicity are taken into account in the design process to guarantee a robust design. The study shows that, compared to a passive vehicle, the vehicles with actively steered wheelsets not only perform much better on a curved track, but also improve the ride quality on straight track. Computer simulations are used in the study to verify the development of the controllers and assess the system performance with the control scheme proposed.     

Semi-active control of tracked vehicle suspension incorporating magnetorheological dampers

In past years, the application of magnetorheological (MR) and electrorheological dampers in vehicle suspension has been widely studied, mainly for the purpose of vibration control. This paper presents theoretical study to identify an appropriate semi-active control method for MR-tracked vehicle suspension. Three representative control algorithms are simulated including the skyhook, hybrid and fuzzy-hybrid controllers. A seven degrees-of-freedom tracked vehicle suspension model incorporating MR dampers has been adopted for comparison between the performance of the three controllers. The model differential equations are derived based on Newton's second law of motion and the proposed control methods are developed. The performance of each control method under bump and sinusoidal road profiles for different vehicle speeds is simulated and compared with the performance of the conventional suspension system in time and frequency domains. The results show that the performance of tracked vehicle suspension with MR dampers is substantially improved. Moreover, the fuzzy-hybrid controller offers an excellent integrated performance in reducing the body accelerations as well as wheel bounce responses compared with the classical skyhook and hybrid controllers.     

A structural articulation method for assessing railway bridges subject to dynamic impact loading from track irregularities

This paper discusses the importance of track irregularities in railway bridge design, and presents a new technique for calculating the dynamic impact load induced by such irregularities: the structural articulation method. The properties of the combined bridge-suspension system are coupled through global mass, stiffness, and damping matrices. Under the proposed method, the true suspension system over a particular point on the bridge girder at time t is divided into equivalent suspension systems attributed to adjacent finite-element nodes of the bridge. The time-dependent effects of a moving mass are thereby included in the equation of motion.     

Stabilization of High-Speed Railway Vehicles

The problems of critical speeds of railway vehicles with dry friction units determination are discussed. A new approach is used which extends the field of application of dynamic response linear analysis methods to vital nonlinear multibody systems. The special features concerning the influence of dry friction forces in the body supports on the trucks and parameters of horizontal constraints of wheelsets and truck frames on critical speed are indicated. It is shown that a significant rising of railway vehicle critical speeds can be reached by changing the structure of constraints between the body and the trucks.     

Optimal Performance of Variable Component Suspensions

Most vehicle suspension systems use fixed passive components that offer a compromise in performance between sprung mass isolation, suspension travel, and tireroad contact force. Recently, systems with discretely adjustable dampers and air springs been added to production vehicles. Active and semi-active damping concepts for vehicle suspensions have also been studied theoretically and with physical prototypes. This paper examines the optimal performance comparisons of variable component suspensions, including active damping and full-state feedback, for “quartercar” heave models. Two and three dimensional optimizations are computed using performance indicators to find the component parameters (control gains) that provide “optimal” performance for statistically described roadway inputs. The effects of performance weighting and feedback configuration are examined. Active damping is shown to be mainly important for vehicle isolation. A passive vehicle suspension can control suspension travel and tire contact force nearly as well as a full state feedback control strategy.     

Optimal Performance of Variable Component Suspensions

SUMMARY

Most vehicle suspension systems use fixed passive components that offer a compromise in performance between sprung mass isolation, suspension travel, and tireroad contact force. Recently, systems with discretely adjustable dampers and air springs been added to production vehicles. Active and semi-active damping concepts for vehicle suspensions have also been studied theoretically and with physical prototypes. This paper examines the optimal performance comparisons of variable component suspensions, including active damping and full-state feedback, for “quartercar” heave models. Two and three dimensional optimizations are computed using performance indicators to find the component parameters (control gains) that provide “optimal” performance for statistically described roadway inputs. The effects of performance weighting and feedback configuration are examined. Active damping is shown to be mainly important for vehicle isolation. A passive vehicle suspension can control suspension travel and tire contact force nearly as well as a full state feedback control strategy.     

Probabilistic assessment of railway vehicle-curved track systems considering track random irregularities

The randomness of track irregularities directly leads to the random vibration of the vehicle–track systems. To assess the dynamic performance of a railway system in more comprehensive and practical ways, a framework for probabilistic assessment of vehicle-curved track systems is developed by effectively integrating a vehicle–track coupled model (VTCM), a track irregularity probabilistic model (TIPM) with a probability density evolution method (PDEM). In VTCM, the railway vehicle and the curved track are coupled by the nonlinear wheel–rail interaction forces, and through TIPM, the ergodic properties of random track irregularities on amplitudes, wavelengths and probabilities can be properly considered in the dynamic calculations. Lastly, PDEM, a newly developed method for solving probabilistic transmissions between stochastic excitations and deterministic dynamic responses, is introduced to this probabilistic assessment model. Numerical examples validate the correctness and practicability of the proposed models. In this paper, the results of probabilistic assessment are presented to illustrate the dynamic behaviours of a high-speed railway vehicle subject to curved tracks with various radii, and to demonstrate the importance of considering the actual status of wheel–rail contacts and curve negotiation effects in vehicle-curved track interactions.     

Vehicle Dynamic Analysis and Evaluation of Continuously Controlled Semi-Active Suspensions Using Hardware-in-the-loop Simulation

A semi-active suspension system with continuously variable damper is greatly expected to be used mainly in the future as a high-performance suspension system due to its cost-effectiveness, light weight, and low energy consumption. In this paper, to develop a suitable control logic for the semi-active suspension system, the hardware-in-the-loop simulation is performed for the experimental continuously variable damper combined with a quarter-car model, and the simulation results are compared for passive, on/off controlled, and continuously controlled dampers in the aspects of ride comfort and driving safety, assuming each damper to be installed on the vehicle.     

Influence of uneven rail irregularities on the dynamic response of the railway track using a three-dimensional model of the vehicle–track system

A mathematical model of the vehicle–track interaction is developed to investigate the coupled behaviour of vehicle–track system, in the presence of uneven irregularities at left/right rails. The railway vehicle is simplified as a 3D multi-rigid-body model, and the track is treated as the two parallel beams on a layered discrete support system. Besides the car-body, the bogies and the wheel sets, the sleepers are assumed to have roll degree of freedom, in order to simulate the in-plane rotation of the components. The wheel–rail interface is treated using a nonlinear Hertzian contact model, coupling the mathematical equations of the vehicle–track systems. The dynamic interaction of the entire system is numerically studied in time domain, employing Newmark's integration method. The track irregularity spectra of both the left/right rails are taken into account, as the inputs of dynamic excitations. The dynamic responses of the track system induced by such irregularities are obtained, particularly in terms of the vertical (bounce) and roll displacements. The numerical model of the present research is validated using several benchmark models reported in the literature, for both the smooth and unsmooth track conditions. Four sample profiles of the measured rail irregularities are considered as the case studies of excitation sources, examining their influences on the dynamic behaviour of the coupled system. The results of numerical simulations demonstrate that the motion of track system is significantly influenced by the presence of uneven irregularities in left/right rails. Dynamic response of the sleepers in the roll direction becomes more sensitive to the rail irregularities, as the unevenness severity of the parallel profiles (quantitative difference between left and right rail spectra) is increased. The severe geometric deformation of the track in the bounce–pitch–roll directions is mainly related to such profile unevenness (cross-level) in left/right rails.     

Stabilization of High-Speed Railway Vehicles

SUMMARY

The problems of critical speeds of railway vehicles with dry friction units determination are discussed. A new approach is used which extends the field of application of dynamic response linear analysis methods to vital nonlinear multibody systems. The special features concerning the influence of dry friction forces in the body supports on the trucks and parameters of horizontal constraints of wheelsets and truck frames on critical speed are indicated. It is shown that a significant rising of railway vehicle critical speeds can be reached by changing the structure of constraints between the body and the trucks.     

Experimental Verification of Resistance Control, Semi-Active Damping

Electronically controlled vehicle suspensions offer substantial improvements in performance over conventional, passive suspensions but with the price of power, complexity, and actuating bandwidth. Low-bandwidth, semi-active damping addresses the problems of power and bandwidth by using low power modulation of controllable dampers at the frequency of the isolated mass. Resistance controlled, semi-active damping is experimentally verified to better sprung mass isolation while reducing suspension stroke, something that a passive system cannot do. It is also shown to compare reasonably well with computer simulation results. The experimental implementation is a 1/30 scale, two degree-of-freedom test bed that represents the standard quarter vehicle model.     

半主动悬架磁流变液减振器研究

针对Passat B5轿车前悬架,开发了双筒滑阀式磁流变液减振器,提出了簧载质量的绝对速度及其与非簧载质量间的相对运动速度估计算法,利用实测悬架参数和磁流变液减振器的非线性阻尼力特性,建立了带磁流变液减振器的半主动悬架模型。沥青路面试验结果表明:相对于被动悬架,采用磁流变液半主动悬架后车辆平顺性改善大于10%。     

The use of vehicle acceleration measurements to estimate road roughness

Road roughness is a broad term that incorporates everything from potholes and cracks to the random deviations that exist in a profile. To build a roughness index, road irregularities need to be measured first. Existing methods of gauging the roughness are based either on visual inspections or using one of a limited number of instrumented vehicles that can take physical measurements of the road irregularities. This paper proposes the collection of data from accelerometers fixed in a specific vehicle type and the use of this data to estimate the road condition. Although the estimate is approximate, accelerometers are being increasingly used by car manufacturers to improve suspension performance and the proposed method is relatively inexpensive to implement and provide road managers with constantly updated measurements of roughness. This approach is possible due to the relationship between the power spectral densities of road surface and vehicle accelerations via a transfer function. This paper shows how road profiles can be accurately classified using axle and body accelerations from a range of simulated vehicle–road dynamic scenarios.