Robustness analysis of bogie suspension components Pareto optimised values

Bogie suspension system of high speed trains can significantly affect vehicle performance. Multiobjective optimisation problems are often formulated and solved to find the Pareto optimised values of the suspension components and improve cost efficiency in railway operations from different perspectives. Uncertainties in the design parameters of suspension system can negatively influence the dynamics behaviour of railway vehicles. In this regard, robustness analysis of a bogie dynamics response with respect to uncertainties in the suspension design parameters is considered. A one-car railway vehicle model with 50 degrees of freedom and wear/comfort Pareto optimised values of bogie suspension components is chosen for the analysis. Longitudinal and lateral primary stiffnesses, longitudinal and vertical secondary stiffnesses, as well as yaw damping are considered as five design parameters. The effects of parameter uncertainties on wear, ride comfort, track shift force, stability, and risk of derailment are studied by varying the design parameters around their respective Pareto optimised values according to a lognormal distribution with different coefficient of variations (COVs). The robustness analysis is carried out based on the maximum entropy concept. The multiplicative dimensional reduction method is utilised to simplify the calculation of fractional moments and improve the computational efficiency. The results showed that the dynamics response of the vehicle with wear/comfort Pareto optimised values of bogie suspension is robust against uncertainties in the design parameters and the probability of failure is small for parameter uncertainties with COV up to 0.1.     

Kineto-dynamic design optimisation for vehicle-specific seat-suspension systems

Designs and analyses of seat-suspension systems are invariably performed considering effective vertical spring rate and damping properties, while neglecting important contributions due to kinematics of the widely used cross-linkage mechanism. In this study, a kineto-dynamic model of a seat-suspension is formulated to obtain relations for effective vertical suspension stiffness and damping characteristics as functions of those of the air spring and the hydraulic damper, respectively. The proposed relations are verified through simulations of the multi-body dynamic model of the cross-linkage seat-suspension in the ADAMS platform. The validity of the kineto-dynamic model is also demonstrated through comparisons of its vibration transmission response with the experimental data. The model is used to identify optimal air spring coordinates to attain nearly constant natural frequency of the suspension, irrespective of the seated body mass and seated height. A methodology is further proposed to identify optimal damping requirements for vehicle-specific suspension designs to achieve minimal seat effective amplitude transmissibility (SEAT) and vibration dose value (VDV) considering vibration spectra of different classes of earthmoving vehicles. The shock and vibration isolation performance potentials of the optimal designs are evaluated under selected vehicle vibration superimposed with shock motions. Results show that the vehicle-specific optimal designs could provide substantial reductions in the SEAT and VDV values for the vehicle classes considered.     

Increase of metro line capacity by optimisation of track circuit length and location: In a distance to go system

The signalling system affects the type of service that can be provided on any particular railway line. The aims set when it comes to designing these systems to operate a railway line are: to ensure safety of operation and to ensure flexible and efficient running. When building a line capacity optimisation algorithm, it must reach a compromise solution between two parameters: minimise the interval between trains and keep journey time as low as possible. This paper aims to describe the algorithm developed between METRO DE MADRID and CITEF (Railway Technology Research Centre of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid – UPM) that allows the capacity of an underground line equipped with ATP Distance To Go systems to be studied and optimised. This algorithm facilitates the tasks of signalling design and optimisation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pareto optimisation of railway bogie suspension damping to enhance safety and comfort

This paper presents the optimisation of damping characteristics in bogie suspensions using a multi-objective optimisation methodology. The damping is investigated and optimised in terms of the resulting performances of a railway vehicle with respect to safety, comfort and wear considerations. A complete multi-body system model describing the railway vehicle dynamics is implemented in commercial software Gensys and used in the optimisation. In complementary optimisation analyses, a reduced and linearised model describing the bogie system dynamics is also utilised. Pareto fronts with respect to safety, comfort and wear objectives are obtained, showing the trade-off behaviour between the objectives. Such trade-off curves are of importance, especially in the design of damping functional components. The results demonstrate that the developed methodology can successfully be used for multi-objective investigations of a railway vehicle within models of different levels of complexity. By introducing optimised passive damping elements in the bogie suspensions, both safety and comfort are improved. In particular, it is noted that the use of optimised passive damping elements can allow for higher train speeds. Finally, adaptive strategies for switching damping parameters with respect to different ride conditions are outlined and discussed.     

Uncertainty quantification in vehicle dynamics

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a review of various works that highlight the importance of introducing the variability of the road-track/vehicle system into dynamic simulations as soon as this latter is meant to be predictive. The first section of the paper presents the Uncertainty Quantification, Verification and Validation method (UQ-VV). This latter proposes tools to model uncertainties, to associate a confidence to the prediction of quantities of interest and to estimate the probability of occurrence of different scenarios. The method is illustrated by various examples mainly from the rail domain but also from the road sector. The second section summarises application examples of predictive modelling, robust optimisation and calibration.     

Adaptive impedance control of a hydraulic suspension system using particle swarm optimisation

This paper presents a novel active control approach for a hydraulic suspension system subject to road disturbances. A novel impedance model is used as a model reference in a particular robust adaptive control which is applied for the first time to the hydraulic suspension system. A scheme is introduced for selecting the impedance parameters. The impedance model prescribes a desired behaviour of the active suspension system in a wide range of different road conditions. Moreover, performance of the control system is improved by applying a particle swarm optimisation algorithm for optimising control design parameters. Design of the control system consists of two interior loops. The inner loop is a force control of the hydraulic actuator, while the outer loop is a robust model reference adaptive control (MRAC). This type of MRAC has been applied for uncertain linear systems. As another novelty, despite nonlinearity of the hydraulic actuator, the suspension system and the force loop together are presented as an uncertain linear system to the MRAC. The proposed control method is simulated on a quarter-car model. Simulation results show effectiveness of the method.     

Preliminary studies concerning the application of different braking arrangements on Italian freight trains

Freight wagons are usually equipped with the standard Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer pneumatic brake. On long trains, the propagation of the pneumatic signals along the pipe and different braking/loading conditions may produce delays and/or differences in the application of the braking effort along the train. This phenomenon may cause heavy longitudinal forces exchanged between wagons through buffers and draw gear. In particular, the workgroup n.6 (freight trains composition) of the Italcertifer committee has performed some preliminary studies concerning the application of LL braking operative conditions on freight wagons trains travelling on Italian lines. Partners have cooperated in this workgroup; however, in this paper, the attention is focused on methodologies and results concerning the contribution of University of Florence. The results of this activity, coordinated by RFI-CESIFER have been used to emanate the 20/07 rule of the RFI (‘Modifiche alla Prefazione Generale all'Orario di Servizio’) which modify the composition criterion rules of freight trains on the Italian Railways in order to introduce and discipline the application of the LL braking operative condition.     

Improved calibration of simulation models in railway dynamics: application of a parameter identification process to the multi-body model of a TGV train

This paper aims at estimating the vehicle suspension parameters of a TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) train from measurement data. A better knowledge of these parameters is required for virtual certification or condition monitoring applications. The estimation of the parameter values is performed by minimising a misfit function describing the distance between the measured and the simulated vehicle response. Due to the unsteady excitation from the real track irregularities and nonlinear effects in the vehicle behaviour, the misfit function is defined in the time domain using a least squares estimation. Then an optimisation algorithm is applied in order to find the best parameter values within the defined constraints. The complexity of the solution surface with many local minima requires the use of global optimisation methods. The results show that the model can be improved by this approach providing a response of the simulation model closer to the measurements.     

Longitudinal force distribution using quadratically constrained linear programming

In this paper, a new method is presented for the optimisation of force distribution for combined traction/braking and cornering. In order to provide a general, simple and flexible problem formulation, the optimisation is addressed as a quadratically constrained linear programming (QCLP) problem. Apart from fast numerical solutions, different driveline configurations can be included in the QCLP problem in a very straightforward fashion. The optimisation of the distribution of the individual wheel forces using the quasi-steady-state assumption is known to be useful for the study of the influence of particular driveline configurations on the combined lateral and longitudinal grip envelope of a particular vehicle–driveline configuration. The addition of the QCLP problem formulation makes another powerful tool available to the vehicle dynamics analyst to perform such studies.     

Ride dynamic evaluations and design optimisation of a torsio-elastic off-road vehicle suspension

The ride dynamic characteristics of a novel torsio-elastic suspension for off-road vehicle applications are investigated through field measurements and simulations. A prototype suspension was realised and integrated within the rear axle of a forestry skidder for field evaluations. Field measurements were performed on forestry terrains at a constant forward speed of 5 km/h under the loaded and unloaded conditions, and the ride responses were acquired in terms of accelerations along the vertical, lateral, roll, longitudinal and pitch axes. The measurements were also performed on a conventional skidder to investigate the relative ride performance potentials of the proposed suspension. The results revealed that the proposed suspension could yield significant reductions in magnitudes of transmitted vibration to the operator seat. Compared with the unsuspended vehicle, the prototype suspended vehicle resulted in nearly 35%, 43% and 57% reductions in the frequency-weighted rms accelerations along the x-, y- and z-axis, respectively. A 13-degree-of-freedom ride dynamic model of the vehicle with rear-axle torsio-elastic suspension was subsequently derived and validated in order to study the sensitivity of the ride responses to suspension parameters. Optimal suspension parameters were identified using the Pareto technique based on the genetic algorithm to obtain minimal un-weighted and frequency-weighted rms acceleration responses. The optimal solutions resulted in further reduction in the pitch acceleration in the order of 20%, while the reductions in roll and vertical accelerations ranged from 3.5 to 6%.