Sensitivity Analysis of the Elastic Properties of Rail Vehicle Suspensions on Vibration Based on the HXN5 Locomotive Model

Abstract

The dynamic performance of suspensions plays direct role in vibration control of railway vehicles and also has great impact on the ride comfort and operation stability. For assessment of the influence, a method of sensitivity analysis was performed, in which a Multi-Body System (MBS) dynamic model for the HXN5 locomotive counting for significant DOFs and nonlinearities was developed in SIMPACK platform and validated by real tests. More than tens of dynamic simulations were performed by a variety of damping and stiffness coefficients of the primary and secondary suspensions. By simulation, it is found that the vertical stiffness and damping of the primary suspension have the most sensitive influence. The lateral stiffness of the primary suspension, the longitudinal and lateral stiffness as well as the longitudinal and vertical damper of the secondary suspension possess the least effect on the railway locomotive vibration characteristics. It is also shown parameters of the longitudinal stiffness of the primary suspension, the vertical stiffness and lateral damper of secondary suspensions are of intermediate influence.