Abstract
This paper describes a prediction method for ride comfort during running of a railway vehicle. At first, vertical acceleration levels on the floor of a car-body were calculated by using FEM. In this case, measured vibration levels of the axle box were used to excite the car-body structure. Next, the vibration response of the head, shoulder, waist, and foot for the seated passengers were predicted by using the database of the transfer function. And, the ride comfort considering the human sensitivity was estimated from these vibration levels. The predicted results of the ride comfort were compared with the measured, and it was confirmed that the method was useful. As an example, the analysis by changing the specifications of a car-body was carried out by using this method to improve the ride comfort.
