The Effect of Structural Dynamics on the Strength and Behaviour of Road and Rail Vehicles

Abstract

Road and rail vehicles operate in such different ways that it is difficult to see how the same problems confront them. Road vehicles and in particular, their use in bad road or off the road condition leads to a design philosophy where all the effort has to be put into the vehicle. A rail vehicle can be regarded as part of a unified system where the design and maintenance effort put into the track can be traded against the design sophistication of the vehicle. It is surprising to find therefore in the paper, compiled separately from the two points of view, road and rail, that substantially the same problems have to be approached in a similar way to achieve satisfactory structural designs in both situations. One obvious difference is that the handling dynamics of the road vehicle depend almost entirely on the vehicle, and the limitations of structural stiffness that this necessitates is brought out in the paper. The rail vehicle, being guided, has no such limitations but in most cases it is designed with high structural stiffness, as are road vehicles, and both have to be checked for the vibrational behaviour of their structures which can cause unpleasant effects on passengers. The paper is divided into four sections, the behaviour and strength of road vehicles first and then for rail vehicles. (TRRL)