Mass Transit Vehicles Research Articles

BODY STRUCTURE AND VEHICLE DYNAMICS

SUMMARY This paper is a presentation of aspects on car body design for mass transit vehicles and methods which has been evolved for the analysis of non-linear flexible railway vehicles by use of normal modes. In the end of the paper results from an experimental modal analysis are shown.

A Matching Based Heuristic for Scheduling Mass Transit Crews and Vehicles

In this paper, we describe a computerized procedure for scheduling mass transit crews and vehicles. The procedure differs from previous methods in that rather than first scheduling vehicles and then crews, it schedules vehicles and crews simultaneously. Several of the subproblems are solved as matching problems on graphs. A computational test of this procedure using a database from the Baltimore Metropolitan Transit Authority has produced solutions of lower cost than those used by the transit authority.

Statistical model 'Life cycle cost-reliability' for a new mass transit vehicle

The macro-phenomena that make the Life Cycle Cost (LCC), of a mass transit vehicle, depending on its reliability level are here interpreted by a statistical model. The main component of the model is a specific Non-Homogeneous Poisson Process (NHPP) that enables counting the failures that must be financially supported during the whole life of the vehicle. In order to allow the practical application of the above NHPP, both pseudo Linear and Maximum Likelihood estimators are proposed for its parameters. The good fitting of the proposed NHPP to more data sets, found in the published literature in different fields too, showed its adequacy to interpret the Reliability Growth phenomenon (the correct interpretation of which is a decisive factor for a good LCC model).

Prediction Of Torsional Vibration On Mass TransitVehicle

An analysis of Wheelset Torsional Vibration caused by loss of adhesion (negative adhesion slope) has been carried out to quantify the risk of transmission component and axle failure. Results from non-linear simulation and linear eigenvalue calculation are consistent. An eigenvalue calculation comparison between a previously validated Class 91 model and the mass transit vehicle model was conducted, which gives confidence to the calculation. A parametric sensitivity study of the transmission system torsinal stability was carried out, the effects of individual parameter on torsional oscillation were investigated, the results provide guidance to the transmission system designers. It is believed that this study contributes toward better understanding of torsional vibration of the railway vehicle transmission system.