Experimental and Analytical Ride Comfort Evaluation of a Railway Coach

The dynamic performance of a railroad vehicle as related to safety is evaluated in terms of specific performance indices like ride quality. The ride quality is interpreted as the capability of the railroad vehicle suspension to maintain the motion within the range of human comfort and or within the range necessary to ensure that there is no damage to the cargo it carries. The recent trend in dynamic analysis is to make use of finite element (FE) models, which are closer to the real systems than conventional rigid body models. Experimental and analytical evaluation of Sperling’s ride index and ISO 2631 ride comfort analysis of a suburban railroad vehicle using an elaborate finite element model is presented in this paper. The track power spectral densities (PSDs) were used as inputs to the system and the response predictions were carried out using random vibration theory. Measurements were also made at different parts on the coach and bogie of an electrical multiple unit trailer (AC/EMU/T) running on a broad gauge (1676 mm) suburban track to obtain the dynamic response under normal operating conditions. A comparison of predicted ride index and measured ride index has been presented. A through parametric study has brought out possible design modifications for better ride index and ride comfort.