416 Bending Vibration Suppression of Railway Vehicle Carbody with Piezoelectric Elements : Experimental Results of Excitation Tests with a Commuter Car

Abstract

This paper describes the application of piezoelectric elements to suppress the bending vibration of a railway vehicle carbody. The elements are electrically connected to external shunt circuits. The authors carried out stationary excitation tests by using a commuter car with damper units consisting of piezoelectric elements and attachment devices. Two types of shunt circuits, an inductor and a resistor in series (L-R circuit) and a capacitor with negative value and a resistor (negative C-R circuit), are implemented in the tests. The test results indicate that the damper units reduced the frequency response gain between excitation force and acceleration on the floor at the natural frequency up to approximately 30%.