Ground vibration induced by railway traffic - The influence of vehicle parameters

Paper in proceeding, 2012

Measurements of ground vibration induced by a two-car EMU railway vehicle have been made at speeds up to 250 km/h. The results show an increasing ground vibration level with increasing speed and a clear excitation generated by each passing wheelset and the discrete sleeper support. Simulations with a multibody vehicle model on a railway track, including a ground model consisting of isotropic elastic layers, show good agreement with the measurement results. A study is carried out using simulations to investigate the influence of vehicle parameters on ground vibration levels. Nine parameters including vehicle mass, suspension properties and the geometric properties of the vehicle are studied using a fractional factorial design (FFD) method of parametric study. The results show an increase in vibration level for a stiffer primary suspension and a heavier unsprung mass. In general, the interactions between different parameters are low. © 2012 Springer.