Active Suspension of Rail Vehicle Negotiating Curved Tracks at High-Speeds(Addition of Centering Control)

Abstract

When a railway vehicle negotiates curved tracks at high-speeds, the car body collides with lateral bump/stop in the secondary suspension due to excess centrifugal force, and the ride comfort gets worse. In this situation, there is also a possibility that active suspension does not work effectively. This paper deals with the addition of centering control, which pulls the car body back to the central direction from the outer side, to the vibration control in the active suspension. Considering the difference in frequency range to be controlled between the vibration and centering controls, H_∞ control law is employed and an effective weighting function is offered for cooperation of the two controls. Numerical simulations show that cooperation can be realized in spite of the trade-off relation between the two controls. The cooperative work of both controls is confirmed in the experiment using a scaled half vehicle model under the condition with equivalent excess centrifugal force.