NUMERICAL ANALYSIS ON THE INFLUENCE OF SUSPENDED EQUIPMENT ON THE RIDE COMFORT IN RAILWAY VEHICLES

To study the impact of suspended equipment on the ride comfort in a railway vehicle, a rigid flexible general model of such a vehicle is required. The numerical simulations is based on two different models, derived from the general model of the vehicle, namely a reference model of a vehicle with no equipment, and another model with six suspended elements of equipment mounted in various positions along the carbody. The objective of this paper arises from the observation that the literature does not contain any study that highlights the change in the ride comfort resulting exclusively due to the influence of equipment. The influence of the suspended equipment on the ride comfort is determined by comparing the ride comfort indices calculated in the carbody reference points, at the centre and above the two bogies, for a model with six elements of equipment and a model of the vehicle with no equipment.