Advances in Combined Structural Dynamics and System Dynamics Analyses of Rail Vehicles

SUMMARY The use of a virtual product development (VPD) system allows a computer-based description of a product throughout the complete development process. An accurate description of the complex motion of a rail vehicle is possible using the methods of multibody simulation embedded in the VPD system. The VPD system represents the geometry data generated using computer aided design (CAD) methods. The relevant theories applied for the dynamic simulation are described. Numerical results achieved from the virtual models are compared with hardware measurements gained from a physical prototype.