Abstract
In 2003 the Shanghai MAGLEV Transportation System Transrapid starts operation on an elevated single and double-span guideway with speeds over 400km/h. For the investigations the system is approximated by a single mass vehicle and an extended vehicle with different length on an undamped flexible single or double-span beam with rigid piers. The general control and simulation problem of the vehicle/guideway dynamics at high speeds includes two limiting cases. In the first case, the magnet force is constant (only the weight of the vehicle) and in the second case, the magnet gap is constant (the vehicle is following the guideway). The elastic structure of the guideway is approximated by supported homogenous elastic single and double-span beams described by partial BERNOULLI EULER beam equations. The partial differential equation can be transformed into an infinite number of ordinary differential equations by means of a modal transformation. An approximation is achieved by considering only the first modes. Simulation results for the single mass vehicle are given comparing the solutions for maximum dynamic displacements of a single and a double-span guideway, when the moving vehicle is modeled with a constant force or with a constant gap. For the extended vehicle the same results are given, when the moving vehicle is modeled with a constant distributed force.
