Railway Vehicle Vibration Dynamics and Optimized Bogie Damping to Enhance Safety and Comfort

The paper presents results on analysis of vibration dynamics of a high speed train (HST) and multi-objective optimization of damping characteristics of bogie’s primary and secondary suspensions to enhance safety and comfort of a vehicle. To study the HST vibration dynamics the multibody system model has been developed and implemented in commercial software Gensys. By using the developed model and evolutionary algorithm the lateral damping parameters of primary and secondary suspensions have been optimized. The results of optimization are presented via Pareto fronts with respect to safety and comfort objectives and via Pareto sets with respect to lateral damping parameters of bogie’s primary and secondary suspensions. The optimized solutions provide deep insight into HST vibration dynamics. By using the obtained results adaptive control strategies for switching suspensions’ damping parameters are proposed which allow to increase vehicle service speeds and to enhance safety and comfort