Title: Design of a longitudinal railway vehicle suspension system to ensure the stability of a wheelset

Authors: R.V. Dukkipati, R.R. Guntur

Addresses: Division of Mechanical Engineering, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Union College Schenedady, NY, USA

Abstract: To facilitate the design of the longitudinal suspension of a wheelset a method has been proposed with which it is possible to draw stability boundaries on a parameter plane. Using this method the stability boundaries for a conventional wheelset on a log k₂ (k₂ is the longitudinal stiffness) and log c₂ (c₂ is the longitudinal damping coefficient) plane for four values of α (conicity) are drawn. It is concluded that the designer has to select very carefully the values of k₂ and c₂ to ensure the stability of the wheelset at high speeds. It is shown that when the conicity, α, is increased the area of the stable region of operation is decreased. The stability boundaries for a damper coupled wheelset on a Log k₂ and log c₂ plane for four different values of α and for four different values of c_t (c_t is the torsional damping coefficient between the two wheels) are drawn. The results indicate that a damper coupled wheelset can be made stable at high speeds. An increase in the value of α will result in a decrease in the area of the stable region of the parameter plane. An increase in the value of c_t has also resulted in a decrease in the area of the stable region of the parameter plane.

Keywords: vehicle dynamics; railway vehicle suspension design; suspension parameters; wheelset stability; conicity; railways.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.1984.061105

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 1984 Vol.5 No.4, pp.451 - 466

Published online: 25 May 2014 *

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