Analysis of sliding vibration of an electric shoegear against a conductor rail in medium- and low-speed maglev trains

Abstract

In recent years, medium- and low-speed maglev trains have been put into use in China. It was discovered during testing that the electric shoegear and conductor rail system generate significant vibration and noise when the electric shoegear passes through expansion and intermediate joints. By analyzing the sound pressure level (SPL) of the noise signal, it was found that the A-weighted SPL of the noise was between 77.83 dBA and 91.80 dBA when the maglev trains were running normally, which reached the level of annoying. Based on the theory of self-excited frictional vibrations, the finite element models of an electric shoegear and conductor rail system (shoe–rail system) were established. The main frequency of the vibration signal calculated by the transient dynamic analysis method was 1510.05 Hz. The self-excited frictional vibrations of the system were further studied using the complex eigenvalue analysis (CEA), and the causes of the noise are analyzed. The results show that the system has unstable vibration when the friction coefficient was greater than or equal to 0.21. The parameter sensitivity analysis showed that the slip shoe material of the electric shoegear, vertical damping of the suspension device, and tuned mass damper (TMD) structure have an important influence on the generation of vibration and noise of the system. Installing an appropriately tuned mass damper structure can suppress or eliminate the unstable vibration of the system.