Suppression of Vertical Vibrations in Railway Vehicles Using Variable Primary and Secondary Hydraulic Dampers

Abstract

Suppression of vertical car body flexural and rigid body-mode vibrations is essential to further improve ride comfort on trains. We have been proposing a system in which both these types of vibration are reduced simultaneously by introducing variable hydraulic vertical dampers in the primary and secondary suspension. In order to confirm the validity of the proposed system, vehicle excitation tests to simulate actual running using an actual vehicle fitted with the proposed system were carried out. As a result of the test, compared to the case without control, the proposed system can reduce the power spectral density (PSD) peak of vertical vibration acceleration at 1.2Hz due to rigid-body-mode vibration to approximately 25%; at 9Hz due to the first-bending-mode vibration to approximately 10%.