Testing of Air Spring for Railway Vehicles under Large Displacement Conditions

Abstract

Tests were carried out on air springs alone under large displacement and high-speed conditions, which are assumed to occur during earthquakes, and the characteristics were evaluated. The air spring load tended to decrease nonlinearly with increasing vertical displacement. In addition, the pressure receiving area was almost constant at vertical displacement within the normal range of use, but it decreased nonlinearly with further increases in vertical displacement. In the large displacement excitation tests, the air spring load and inner pressure were higher than the initial values at the vertical displacement of 0 mm during excitation.