Study on Ride Comfort of Train System

Based on a vehicle dynamics model, a 3-trailer train dynamics model is set up. During the (modeling) process, various kinds of nonlinear factors are considered including nonlinear wheel/rail contact (geometry), nonlinear wheel/rail creep force vs. creepage, nonlinear forces of coupler and draft gear, nonlinear primary and secondary suspension forces, etc. The effects of coupling stiffness and damping coefficient on train ride comfort are studied. The simulation results show that the lateral (connection) stiffness and lateral (connection) damping coefficient affect train ride comfort heavily while vertical connection stiffness and vertical connection damping coefficient have little effect on it. The lateral dampers fixed between cars can improve lateral ride comfort of train effectively and can improve vertical ride comfort of train to a degree. Through simulation, it is shown that ride comfort index of single car is greater than that of the whole train under the same suspension parameter of the bogie.