Riding Comfort Assessment of High-Speed Trains Based on Vibration Analysis

Abstract

This paper proposes a method to assess riding comfort of high-speed multi-car trains and railway systems by using three-dimensional train-bridge interactive models. Each train car is modeled as a multi-axle double-layer of mass-spring-damper system having 27 degrees of freedom and the bridge modeling is adaptive to various finite elements. The case study considers a real train of fifteen cars travelling at a speed range of 50-400 km/h over a railway section having a bridge and rail irregularities of U.S. Federal Railroad Administration class 6. The riding comfort of each train car is found to reduce considerably when it is crossing the bridge. The car body accelerations and bridge deflection are compared with the allowable values specified in the design codes for high-speed railways in Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The assessment shows that riding comfort of the considered railway section is poor and that the design of the railway section or the car body suspensions need to be revisited.