Assessment of the influence of the elastic properties of rail vehicle suspensions on safety, ride quality and track fatigue

A sensitivity analysis has been performed to assess the influence of the elastic properties of railway vehicle suspensions on the vehicle dynamic behaviour. To do this, 144 dynamic simulations were performed modifying, one at a time, the stiffness and damping coefficients, of the primary and secondary suspensions. Three values were assigned to each parameter, corresponding to the percentiles 10, 50 and 90 of a data set stored in a database of railway vehicles.After processing the results of these simulations, the analyzed parameters were sorted by increasing influence. It was also found which of these parameters could be estimated with a lesser degree of accuracy in future simulations without appreciably affecting the simulation results. In general terms, it was concluded that the highest influences were found for the longitudinal stiffness and the lateral stiffness of the primary suspension, and the lowest influences for the vertical stiffness and the vertical damping of the primary suspension, with the parameters of the secondary suspension showing intermediate influences between them.

Significant factors in truck ride quality. Volume III: data compendium. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Structures and Applied Mechanics Division, Washington, D.C.

Workshop on Vehicle Ride Quality, Williamsburg, Virginia, August 13-15, 1975 : Summary report /

Includes bibliographies.

Significant factors in truck ride quality. Volume I. Summary report. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Structures and Applied Mechanics Division, Washington, D.C.

Significant factors in truck ride quality. Volume II: comprehensive report. Final report.

Federal Highway Administration, Structures and Applied Mechanics Division, Washington, D.C.

Development of techniques and data for evaluating ride quality. Volume III: guidelines for development of ride quality models and their applications. Final report.

Transportation Department, Research and Special Programs Directorate, Washington, D.C.

Development of techniques and data for evaluating ride quality. Volume II: ride-quality research. Final report.

Transportation Department, Research and Special Programs Directorate, Washington, D.C.

Experimental designs and psychometric techniques for the study of ride quality. Final report.

Transportation Systems Center, Cambridge, Mass.

Implications of fuel-efficient vehicles on ride quality and passenger acceptance : workshop proceedings, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, September 6-8, 1978 : final report /

Includes bibliographical references.

Workshop on vehicle ride quality, Williamsburg, Virgina, August 13-15, 1975, summary report. Final report.

Transportation Department, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Systems Development and Technology, Washington, D.C.

Data analysis of tractor-trailer drivers to access drivers' perception of heavy duty truck ride quality. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Driver and Pedestrian Research, Washington, D.C.

Determination of long-term stability of pavement ride quality data. Final report.

Ohio Department of Transportation, Columbus

Relationship between truck ride quality and safety of operations: methodology development. Final report.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Office of Driver and Pedestrian Research, Washington, D.C.

Workshop on ride quality, 1976. Proceedings and findings. Summary report.

Transportation Department, Washington, D.C.

Study on ride comfort assessment of multiple occupants using lumped parameter analysis

Growing consumer expectations continue to fuel further advancements in vehicle ride comfort analysis including development of a comprehensive tool capable of aiding the understanding of ride comfort. To date, most of the work on biodynamic responses of human body in the context of ride comfort mainly concentrates on driver or a designated occupant and therefore leaves the scope for further work on ride comfort analysis covering a larger number of occupants with detailed modeling of their body segments. In the present study, governing equations of a 13-DOF (degrees-of-freedom) lumped parameter model (LPM) of a full car with seats (7-DOF without seats) and a 7-DOF occupant model, a linear version of an earlier non-linear occupant model, are presented. One or more occupant models can be coupled with the vehicle model resulting into a maximum of 48-DOF LPM for a car with five occupants. These multi-occupant models can be formulated in a modular manner and solved efficiently using MATLAB/SIMULINK for a given transient road input. The vehicle model and the occupant model are independently verified by favorably comparing computed dynamic responses with published data. A number of cases with different dispositions of occupants in a small car are analyzed using the current modular approach thereby underscoring its potential for efficient ride quality assessment and design of suspension systems.