A DYNAMIC INTERACTION ANALYSIS MODEL FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES AND STRUCTURES WHICH TAKES INTO ACCOUNT NON-LINEAR RESPONSE

Abstract

The authors developed a dynamic interaction analysis program coupling railway vehicles and structures. In the program, the vehicle is modeled by rigid bodies composed of a carbody, trucks and wheelsets spacially connected by nonlinear springs and dampers, and structures are modeled by the finite elements that can take into account their material nonlinearities. The fundamental performance of the program was verified by shaking table test results conducted with a full scale semi-vehicle model using an actual bogie. The behavior of vehicle subjected to the seismic motion produced on nonlinear structures was studied. The outlines of the formulation of the analytical model, the shaking table test and the results of analysis are presented in this paper.