Parametric Analysis of Ride Comfort for Tilting Railway Vehicles Running on Irregular Curved Tracks

The ride comfort of a tilting railway vehicle moving on curved tracks with rail irregularities is studied. Using the nonlinear creep model and Kalker's linear theory, the governing differential equations of motion for a tilting railway vehicle running on irregular tracks are first derived. The tilting railway vehicle is modeled by a 27 degree-of-freedom (DOF) car system, considering the lateral displacement, vertical displacement, roll angle and yaw angle of both the wheelsets and bogie frames, as well as the lateral displacement, roll angle and yaw angle of the car body. Based on the international standard ISO 2631-1, the effect of vehicle speed on the ride comfort index of the tilting vehicle is investigated for various tilting angles, using both linear and nonlinear creep models, and various radii of curved tracks, as well as for various suspension parameters. Finally, the ride comfort indices computed with rail irregularities are found to be higher than those with no rail irregularities, indicating that the effect of rail irregularities on the ride comfort of a tilting vehicle cannot be disregarded in practice.