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The Development of a Numerical

Model for Railway Vehicles
Comfort Assessment Through
Comparison With Experimental
Measurements
Giorgio Diana , Federico Cheli , Andrea Collina , Roberto
Corradi & Stefano Melzi
Published online: 09 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Giorgio Diana , Federico Cheli , Andrea Collina , Roberto Corradi &
Stefano Melzi (2002) The Development of a Numerical Model for Railway Vehicles Comfort
Assessment Through Comparison With Experimental Measurements, Vehicle System
Dynamics: International Journal of Vehicle Mechanics and Mobility, 38:3, 165-183

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/vesd.38.3.165.8287

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 Vehicle System Dynamics 0042-3114/02/3803-165$16.00
2002, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 165±183 # Swets & Zeitlinger

The Development of a Numerical Model for Railway

Vehicles Comfort Assessment Through Comparison
With Experimental Measurements

GIORGIO DIANA , FEDERICO CHELI , ANDREA COLLINA ,

ROBERTO CORRADI AND STEFANO MELZI
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SUMMARY

Appropriate modelling of the dynamic behaviour of the vehicle components, particularly car body
¯exibility, is essential in the analysis of railway vehicle comfort performance, especially for high-speed
vehicles. This paper deals with the description of the adopted approach to set up a complex numerical model
of the railway vehicle, suitable for reproducing its dynamic behaviour in the 0±50 Hz frequency range,
especially with respect to the ride comfort problem. The implemented model is used to simulate in time
domain the dynamic behaviour of a vehicle running on irregular track. Numerical results are validated by
means of comparison with experimental data of on-line tests. Finally, the analytical model is used to
perform a sensitivity analysis, in order to point out the parameters that most signi®cantly affect comfort.

1. INTRODUCTION

Traditional rigid-body models are not completely suitable for reproducing comfort
performance of railway vehicles. According to these simple models, the most critical
positions with respect to ride comfort are near to the car body extremities, since in
these points the effect of the whole body vertical motion sums up with the pitching
oscillation. On the contrary, as will be shown in the following Paragraph, sometimes
the acceleration levels at the centre of the vehicle ¯oor are comparable to those
measured at the vehicle extremities. This can be explained only by considering the
¯exibility of the vehicle components, that should be introduced in a train model for
comfort study.
This is the reason why a new numerical model has been developed on the basis of
an existing one [1±4], adding the ¯exibility of the car body and the bogies by means
of the modal superposition method. Modal parameters and mode shapes in the fre-
quency range of interest can be evaluated in two different ways: by means of
laboratory tests on a real vehicle or using F.E. models of the car body and bogie frames.
 Address correspondence to: Giorgio Diana, Dipartimento di Meccanica, Politecnico di Milano, Via La
Masa 34, 20158 Milano, Italy.
 166 G. DIANA ET AL.

In addition to the description of the implemented model and the adopted

methodology to evaluate vehicle vibration modes, in this paper some meaningful
results, obtained by simulating the dynamic behaviour of a vehicle running on
irregular track, will be presented. The numerical results will be validated by means of
comparison with experimental data of on-line tests. Inside car body acceleration r.m.s.
levels and relevant spectra will be considered. Finally, a detailed analysis on the
importance of several parameters in affecting vehicle response will be presented.
Particular attention will be paid to the in¯uence of the velocity of the vehicle and the
local deformation effects associated with car body ¯exibility.
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2. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS

Figure 1 shows some measurements relevant to a recent experimental campaign. The

tested train is running at 220 km/h on a straight track, in medium quality maintenance
condition. The acceleration time histories are obtained from the signals of ®ve
accelerometers placed on the vehicle ¯oor [5, 6]. The accelerometers position is
represented in the lower half of the ®gure: point C is at the centre of the vehicle ¯oor,
while points A and E are near the car body extremities, and B and D are ap-
proximately at 1=4 of the vehicle's length. All the experimental signals are ®ltered by
means of a low-pass ®lter with a cut-off frequency of 20 Hz.
By analysing Figure 1, the following considerations can be made:
 the highest acceleration levels are reached at the centre of the car body (C) and at
the vehicle front (A); this means that in this speci®c case the body centre is as
important as the extremities for comfort evaluation;
 the signals measured in different positions along the car body ¯oor, show different
harmonic content; in particular, signal C shows the presence of a frequency around
7 Hz, that cannot be noticed so clearly in the other time histories: this is mainly due
to the presence of a probable local vibration mode;
 since all the experimental signals show signi®cant harmonic components with
frequencies higher than 6 Hz, rigid body models are not suitable for reproducing the
comfort performance of the vehicle; as a consequence, the ¯exibility of the car body
and of the bogies must be taken into account [7].
All these considerations lead to the conclusion that the introduction of structural
¯exibility in the numerical model is necessary to correctly reproduce vehicle
behaviour with respect to comfort. Moreover, it is important to underline the in¯uence
of local deformations on comfort levels: These are mainly due to local variations in
mass and elastic properties of the car body structure, in conjunction with the presence
of heavy equipment suspended under the vehicle ¯oor, transmitting considerable
concentrated forces on a structure portion with low stiffness. This is the reason why an
 NUMERICAL FOR RAILWAY VEHICLE COMFORT ASSESSMENT 167
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Fig. 1. Acceleration time histories measured in various points on the vehicle ¯oor.

appropriate numerical model for comfort study should not only include vehicle global
¯exibility, but should also be suitable for reproducing the presence of local modes.

3. THE FLEXIBLE-BODY VEHICLE MODEL

The most effective and easiest way to introduce structural ¯exibility in a vehicle
multi-body model consists in modal superposition approach: this solution allows to
reproduce the dynamic behaviour of a ¯exible body just considering few modes in the
frequency-range of interest, without compromising the computational ef®ciency. This
approach has been used to improve the multi-body code A.D.Tre.S. [3], developed in
the last years at Politecnico di Milano.
 168 G. DIANA ET AL.

In its original version, A.D.Tre.S. is suitable for simulating the motion of a railway
vehicle running on tangent track and curve, taking into account the deformation of the
track and substructure. The vehicle model is composed of a car body, two bogies, and
four wheelsets. The car body and the bogies are assumed rigid, while the wheelset
¯exibility is taken into account (by means of modal superposition approach), in order
to correctly reproduce the wheel-rail contact forces in curve [1] and the vibrations
induced on the wheelsets by the rail surface corrugation [2]. With reference to the
track model, a ®nite element schematisation is adopted for rails, sleepers and sub-
grade [8].
As far as the new program version is concerned, at the present development stage
only tangent track running condition can be simulated. This does not limit the
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objective of this paper, which is mainly concerned with the effects of track irregularity
on ride comfort, especially with respect to resonance excitation of vehicle's ¯exible
vibration modes. The modal coordinates corresponding to car body, bogies and wheel-
sets vibration modes are adopted as independent variables to describe the vehicle
motion. Flexible vibration modes can be either calculated by using a F.E. model or
directly identi®ed from experimental measures (Paragraph 4). Each body in the model is
then described by its rigid and ¯exible modal shapes as a free body in space. Car body,
bogies and wheelsets are ®nally linked one to each other by means of the elastic and
damping elements reproducing the primary and secondary suspensions.
The simulation code accounts for the motion of the train-track system in both
vertical and lateral directions, while the longitudinal motion of the vehicle is assumed
to take place with constant velocity. The vehicle equations of motion are written with
respect to a moving reference system, travelling with constant speed along the ideal
track centreline. In more detail, the train-track system motion is described through the
following subsets of differential equations, representing the vehicle local motion with
respect to the moving reference and the absolute track vibrations:
‰Mv Š 
qv ‡ ‰Rv Š q_ v ‡ ‰Kv Š qv ˆ F v qv ; q_ v ; xt ; x_ t ; t; V; ~zt †
1†
‰Mt Š xt ‡ ‰Rt Š x_ t ‡ ‰Kt Š xt ˆ F t qv ; q_ v ; xt ; x_ t ; t; V; ~zt †

In (1), ‰Mv Š; ‰Rv Š; ‰Kv Š are the mass, damping and stiffness matrices of the vehicle,
‰Mt Š; ‰Rt Š; ‰Kt Š are the same matrices for the track, while F v and F t are the generalized
forces acting on the vehicle and on the track respectively. Vector F t accounts for
wheel-rail contact forces only; besides these, F v can contain all other non-linear
terms, such as non-linear elastic forces produced by bumpstops.
Vehicle motion is described through the generalized coordinates qv , corresponding
to the rigid and ¯exible natural modes of each vehicle component (car body, front and
rear bogie, wheelsets), free from any mutual/global constraint:
h i
qTv ˆ qTc qTfb qTrb qTw1 qTw2 qTw3 qTw4 2†
 NUMERICAL FOR RAILWAY VEHICLE COMFORT ASSESSMENT 169

The nodal coordinates xt of the ®nite element schematisation are adopted to describe
track motion. Equation (3) represents the relation between the track coordinates xt and
the actual displacement zt of the generic wheel-rail contact point, at time t:

zt ˆ ‰ f †ŠT xtk ‡ ~zt 3†

The symbols in (3) have the following meaning:

 xtk is the vector containing the displacement components of the two nodes at the
extremities of the kth rail ®nite element, on which the generic wheel is travelling
(xtk is part of vector xt , which contains the nodal displacements of the entire track);
  is the coordinate of the wheel-rail contact point along the kth rail ®nite element
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and [ f †] is the matrix of the shape functions relevant to the same element;
 ~zt are the rail displacements (in vertical and lateral direction) associated with track
irregularity.
The independent coordinates qv and xt appear both in the vehicle and track
generalized forces F v and F t , as coupling terms between the two sets of Equation (1).
This is due to wheel-rail contact forces, which are functions of both vehicle and track
motion. The contact model [1, 2] is based on a preliminary geometrical analysis on
the measured wheel and rail pro®les. Contact parameters such as rolling radius
and contact angle are reported in table form, as functions of wheel-rail lateral
displacement. The geometrical analysis allows also to determine the number of the
potential contact points for a given wheel-rail lateral displacement. The procedure
adopted for contact forces computation [2] follows the scheme reported below.
Being j the generic contact point on a speci®c wheel-rail couple, at each integration
step:
 A ®rst attempt solution for the independent variables qv and xt is predicted on the
basis of the system state at the previous integration step;
 For each active contact j, the wheel-rail compression increase dj is computed
projecting the wheel-rail relative displacement variation along the direction normal
to the jth contact plane;
 The total compression j of the surfaces for the jth contact is obtained by adding dj
to the total compression computed at the previous integration step; the compression
in correspondence with the active contact points is computed considering the
distance between the surfaces in the undeformed condition;
 The normal contact force Nj acting on the jth contact point is evaluated on the basis
3=2
of the actual compression through the formula Nj ˆ Cj j † (derived form Hertz
theory [9, 10]);
 Transversal and longitudinal creepages are computed and the corresponding
tangential forces at each active contact point are obtained according to the Shen
et al. formulation [11].
 170 G. DIANA ET AL.

This process is iterated at each integration step, until the system dynamic equilibrium
is satis®ed within a given tolerance.
Coming back to Equation (1), it is important to underline that the vehicle stiffness
and damping matrices (‰Kv Š and ‰Rv Š) account for both structural and concentrated
contributions:
‰Kv Š ˆ ‰Kvs Š ‡ ‰Kvc Š
4†
‰Rv Š ˆ ‰Rvs Š ‡ ‰Rvc Š
The stiffness matrix ‰Kv Š is the sum of two terms: the ®rst one is relevant to the structural
stiffness of each body, the second one to the presence of the concentrated spring
elements, connecting one body to each other. ‰Kvs Š is a diagonal matrix containing the
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modal stiffnesses of the considered modes; the diagonal terms corresponding to the rigid
modes will be set to zero. Considering the generic jth concentrated elastic element, its
contribution to the stiffness matrix ‰Kvc Š is calculated starting from the expression of the
corresponding potential energy Vj. Appropriate transformation through Jacobian and
modal matrices leads to express Vj in terms of the generalized coordinates qv . The matrix
‰Kvc Š obtained as the sum of all elastic elements contributions, will be generally full,
coupling the modal coordinates of the different bodies. The damping matrix ‰Rv Š is
similarly composed by the two terms ‰Rvs Š and ‰Rvc Š, corresponding to the structural
damping and the concentrated dampers respectively.
The two sets of Equation (1) are integrated in time domain, by means of a
numerical procedure whose main features are described in [12]. In the present
analysis, the simplifying assumption of `in®nitely rigid' track was made, in order to
speed up the integration procedure.

4. VEHICLE VIBRATION MODES EVALUATION

Two approaches can be followed to determine the ¯exible vibration modes of the
vehicle components, necessary to calculate the matrices ‰Mv Š; ‰Kv Š; ‰Rv Š and vector F v
(Equation (1)):
 experimental approach, based on the analysis of the measurement of the
experimental frequency-response of the component to an external excitation that
leads to the identi®cation of its modal parameters;
 numerical approach, which requires a mathematical model of the component
(usually a F.E. model) to calculate its ¯exible vibration modes through the solution
of an eigenvalues-eigenvectors problem.
In the ®rst approach, the complete vehicle is tested by means of harmonic
excitation and vibration modes are identi®ed applying modal identi®cation techniques
to the measured frequency response functions.
 NUMERICAL FOR RAILWAY VEHICLE COMFORT ASSESSMENT 171

Fig. 2. Flexible vehicle components.

The numerical approach to determine car body modes will be presented in the
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following, making reference to the speci®c vehicle already considered in Paragraph 2.

From a methodological point of view, the evaluation of bogie and wheelset modes
does not differ from the one presented for the car body. The calculation of car body
vibration modes was based on a F.E. model of the whole car body. No global
constraints to the ground were introduced. The implemented F.E. model (Fig. 2)
reproduces the structure of the car body frame by means of about 48000 4-node thin
shell elements, with ®ve degrees of freedom per node (approximately 33000 nodes, in
total). Particular attention is paid to mass distribution, especially in order to correctly
reproduce the presence of heavy suspended masses under the vehicle ¯oor. In the
speci®c vehicle considered, two heavy electric converters (2000 and 2900 kg,
compared to 37000 kg total car body mass) are connected to the car body frame by
means of elastic elements and cause local deformation at the centre of the vehicle
¯oor. These masses have been modelled by means of rigid bodies linked to the car
body frame in the correct positions through elastic elements of suitable characteristic.
Only appropriate modelling of the entire car body frame and the under-¯oor
components, guarantees the possibility to reproduce the local car body vibration modes
illustrated in Paragraph 2, that greatly in¯uence vehicle comfort level. The efforts
made in the re®nement of the F.E. model gave quite satisfying results: Figures 3 and 4
show the calculated mode shape of the ®rst ¯exural vibration mode (6.4 Hz), whole

Fig. 3. F.E. analysis. First ¯exural vibration mode (6.4 Hz): whole car body.
 172 G. DIANA ET AL.

Fig. 4. F.E. analysis. First ¯exural vibration mode (6.4 Hz): vehicle ¯oor.
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car body and vehicle ¯oor. A strong local deformation can be noticed at car body
centre, as a consequence of the under-¯oor suspended masses.
In the next Paragraph, when considering car body ¯exibility, the vibration modes
calculated by means of the described F.E. model, will be introduced. In all numerical
simulations, the same modes will be adopted: 33 modes within 5±20 Hz, with mode
shapes ranging from car body bending, torsion and roof/¯oor/side walls vibration.
Although all these car body modes are considered, numerical-experimental com-
parisons will show that the one which most signi®cantly in¯uences car body dynamic
behaviour is the ®rst ¯exural mode (Figs. 3 and 4). The structural damping factor is set
to 0.03 for all the 33 car body ¯exible modes. Previous experience led to assume this
value as appropriate, for the considered modes in the 5±20 Hz frequency range.
Before analysing the results of time-domain simulations, it is interesting to remark
that, as a results of the introduction of the 33 car body ¯exible vibration modes in the
vehicle Equation (1), no signi®cant change neither in the natural frequencies nor
in the mode shapes occurs. In particular, the ®rst ¯exural vibration mode at 6.4 Hz
(Figs. 3 and 4) remains almost the same. The eigenvalue analysis also leads to the
de®nition of the natural frequencies associated with the rigid body motion of the car

Table 1. Calculated natural frequencies for rigid body motions of the car body and bogie frames.

Frequency [Hz] Mode shape description

0.57 Car body lateral motion

0.80 Car body yaw
1.02 Car body vertical motion
1.38 Car body pitch
1.43 Car body roll
5.71/5.60 Bogie vertical motion (phase and phase opposition)
6.74/6.78 Bogie roll (phase and phase opposition)
9.07/9.07 Bogie pitch (phase and phase opposition)
19.27/19.26 Bogie vertical motion (phase and phase opposition)
24.57/24.65 Bogie yaw (phase and phase opposition)
 NUMERICAL FOR RAILWAY VEHICLE COMFORT ASSESSMENT 173

body and the bogie frames on the primary and secondary suspensions. Table 1 reports
the calculated natural frequencies for the considered vehicle.

5. NUMERICAL RESULTS AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION

In this Paragraph some numerical results relevant to the same working conditions of
the tested train (Paragraph 2) will be presented, in order to validate the proposed
numerical model and to show the importance of taking into account vehicle ¯exibility,
to correctly reproduce its dynamic response.
Time-domain simulations have been performed considering the vehicle running
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on irregular track: Vertical, alignment and cross-level irregularity pro®les have been
taken into account. Since the real irregularity pro®les were not available, the simu-
lations were conducted considering experimental data with similar characteristics (track
irregularity typical of a line in medium quality maintenance condition). Figure 5
reports the Power Spectral Density (PSD) function of the vertical irregularity pro®le,
as a function of 1/ (being  the wavelength of the generic harmonic component).
Although the considered track irregularity is suitable for exciting the vehicle's
vertical and lateral dynamics, attention will be focused on the analysis of the train

Fig. 5. PSD function of vertical track irregularity as a function of 1=.

 174 G. DIANA ET AL.
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Fig. 6. Simulation results: rigid-bodies model (a) and ¯exible bodies model (b). Comparison of ¯oor centre
vertical accelerations (irregular track, 195 km/h).

vertical response, in order to obtain a direct comparison with the available

experimental data shown in Paragraph 2. First of all, the role played by structural
¯exibility in the correct simulation of train response will be analysed and afterwards
the numerical results will be compared to the experimental ones.
Figure 6 shows the comparison between the results of two numerical simulations
relevant to the vehicle running at 195 km/h on the same irregular track. The ®rst
simulation, on the left, is carried out with the rigid-body model, while the results on
the right are obtained by means of the new ¯exible-body model, proposed in this
paper. Both the presented results refer to the acceleration levels calculated at vehicle
¯oor centre (point C, Fig. 1). Remarkable differences in the vehicle response can be
noticed comparing both time-histories and corresponding spectra. Time histories
comparison shows that the rigid-body model presents lower acceleration levels, while
the new model introduces an higher harmonic content due to car body ¯exible modes.
The frequency domain analysis demonstrates that the presence of the 6.4 Hz car body
mode (Figs. 3 and 4) is mainly responsible for this different behaviour: in fact the two
spectra almost overlap in the ®eld 0±5 Hz, re¯ecting the effect of the rigid modes,
while for higher frequencies a considerable peak around 6.4 Hz signi®cantly in-
¯uences the vehicle response calculated by means of the ¯exible-body vehicle model.
 NUMERICAL FOR RAILWAY VEHICLE COMFORT ASSESSMENT 175
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Fig. 7. Numerical-experimental comparison: ¯exible bodies model (a), experimental measurements (b).
Floor centre vertical accelerations (irregular track, 195 km/h).

As a second step, numerical results are compared to experimental measurements.

For this purpose, the numerical results given by the ¯exible-body vehicle model will
be compared to the corresponding measured data, relevant to the experimental tests
described in Paragraph 2. Figure 7 shows the comparison's results, in terms of
acceleration levels at vehicle ¯oor centre (point C, Fig. 1). Both time histories and
spectra show good agreement: peak-to-peak levels in the two time histories are almost
the same and the numerical model correctly reproduces vehicle response up to 10 Hz.
In particular, the two spectra show similar absolute peak levels and peak ratios.
Being the experimental acceleration data ®ltered by means of a low-pass ®lter
with 20 Hz cut-off frequency, it is not possible to validate the numerical model for
frequencies higher than 20 Hz. This is the reason why the numerical results for higher
frequencies are not presented. Finally, it is important to point out that the bogies
¯exible modes, with natural frequencies generally higher than 25 Hz, do not affect
simulation results in the considered frequency range. Comparing Figures 6a and 6b
with the experimental data reported in Figure 7b, the limits of the rigid-body model
are evident: this vehicle model appears inappropriate to reproduce the experimental
acceleration levels measured at the centre of the car body ¯oor and only the
 176 G. DIANA ET AL.

introduction of car body ¯exibility allows to correctly reproduce the real vehicle
behaviour.

6. SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS ON THE PARAMETERS THAT MAINLY

INFLUENCE COMFORT PERFORMANCE

In this Paragraph, the most signi®cant results of the detailed investigation performed
on the parameters which mainly in¯uence vehicle comfort performance will be
presented. Two parameters have demonstrated to play a key role in determining
acceleration levels inside the car body: local deformation effects and vehicle velocity.
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As far as the ®rst phenomenon is concerned, Figure 8 reports the comparison

(in terms of time-histories and corresponding spectra) between the accelerations
calculated by means of the numerical model, in two different points on the car body
¯oor: vehicle front (point A, Fig. 1) and vehicle centre (point C, Fig. 1). The simu-
lation is performed considering the vehicle running on irregular track at 220 km/h.
As can be noticed comparing Figures 8a and 8b, the acceleration levels at car body
centre are mainly due to the ¯exible mode at 6.4 Hz (Fig. 3), while the acceleration

Fig. 8. Numerical simulation: car body vertical accelerations at vehicle front (a) and vehicle centre
(b) (irregular track, 220 km/h).
 NUMERICAL FOR RAILWAY VEHICLE COMFORT ASSESSMENT 177

at car body extremity is principally associated with rigid modes below 2 Hz. With
reference to peak levels in the spectra, the difference in the rigid modes amplitudes
can be explained considering the pitch motion effect (that is predominant at vehicle
extremities), while the strongly different behaviour around 7 Hz is due to the presence
of a considerable local deformation at car body's centre. Looking at the whole car
body mode shape (Fig. 3), the 6.4 Hz vibration mode can be classi®ed as a ¯exural
mode in the vertical plane but, focusing the attention on the car body ¯oor (Fig. 4), the
presence of a signi®cant local deformation at its centre is revealed.
An accurate analysis of the considered vehicle showed important coupling effects
between the car body structure and the heavy electrical equipment suspended under
the vehicle ¯oor by means of elastic elements. These coupling effects have a great
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in¯uence on the car body dynamic response, in terms of local deformations at the ¯oor
centre, thus increasing the acceleration levels. The results reported in Figure 7 were
obtained thanks to the accurate F.E. modelling of the car body, especially considering
the presence of rigid bodies corresponding to the equipment under the ¯oor, linked to
the car body in the correct positions, with elastic elements of proper characteristics.
The second fundamental parameter which strongly in¯uences acceleration levels
inside the car body is vehicle velocity. In Figure 9, the comparison (in terms of time-

Fig. 9. Numerical simulation: car body vertical accelerations at vehicle centre for vehicle running on
irregular track at 180 km/h (a) and 220 km/h (b).
 178 G. DIANA ET AL.

histories and corresponding spectra) between the accelerations calculated at car body
centre, for two different vehicle velocities, is shown. The simulation results for the
vehicle running on irregular track at 180 km/h are reported on the left, while those
referring to the vehicle running at 220 km/h are reported on the right.
What is most worth remarking is the strong decrease in the excitation level of the
car body ¯exible modes (in particular the ®rst ¯exural mode at 6.4 Hz) when vehicle
speed is reduced from 220 km/h to 180 km/h. This obviously suggests the presence
of an excitation mechanism of the car body modes related to vehicle speed. The
explanation to this phenomenon can be found considering the expression of the
generalized force F i† t† associated with the forces transmitted to the car body by the
secondary suspensions (Fig. 10):
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i† i† i†
F t† ˆ kf
f
zf t† ‡ kr
ri†
zr t† ‡ rf
f
z_ f t† ‡ rr
ri†
z_ r t† 5†
i† i†
In (5), i indicates the generic car body vibration mode and f and r are the
corresponding modal vector components, evaluated on the front and rear connection
points of the secondary suspensions to the car body. The suspension stiffness and
damping coef®cients are respectively kf ; kr ; rf ; rr, while zf and zr are the front and rear
bogie vertical displacements (Fig. 10).
Considering the generic component of the track irregularity, with wavelength ,
the irregularity encountered by the front and rear bogies is expressed as follows:
 
2V
zf ˆ Z
sin t

     
2V  p 2V p 2V
zr ˆ Z
sin tÿ ˆ Z
sin t ÿ 2 ˆ Z
sin tÿ 6†
 V   
In (6), p is the pivot pitch and Z is the irregularity amplitude which can be derived,
for the considered  value, from the PSD function reported in Figure 5. The

Fig. 10. Car body excitation as a consequence of track irregularity.

 NUMERICAL FOR RAILWAY VEHICLE COMFORT ASSESSMENT 179

circular frequency corresponding to the wavelength  and the velocity V is

given by:
V
ˆ 2 7†

Equation (6) reveals the presence of a phase shift between the front and rear bogie
vertical displacements which, for a given velocity value V, is a function of the
considered wavelength :
p
ˆ 2 8†

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As expressed by Equation (5), the bogies vertical motion, induced by track

irregularity, causes the introduction of energy in the car body subsystem, which
reaches a maximum when the two following conditions are simultaneously satis®ed:
 of the track irregularity
1) The frequency associated with one particular wavelength 
spectrum must be equal to the generic ith car body eigenfrequency fi :

V
 ˆ fi

9†

 it is always possible to ®nd a particular

Obviously, for a given vehicle speed V,
harmonic component of the track irregularity with wavelength ,  suitable for
causing car body's resonance excitation. The meaning of this condition is
summarised in Figure 11. The straight line with slope fi represents all the possible

 that causes car body's ith vibration mode resonance excitation for velocity V.
Fig. 11. Wavelength  
 180 G. DIANA ET AL.

combinations of velocity and wavelength values that cause resonance excitation of

 the corresponding 
the car body's ith vibration mode: for a given velocity V,  is
univocally identi®ed.
2) The generalized force associated with the track irregularity component with
wavelength   must be maximum. Referring to Equations (5) and (6), it is easy to
note that, for a given velocity value and a particular car body vibration mode,
F i† t† is a generalized random force whose autospectrum depends only on .
In order to understand how the irregularity wavelengths  in¯uence the vehicle
dynamic response, it is useful to make reference to a particular car body vibration
mode.
Considering the ®rst ¯exural mode (Fig. 3) and observing that in most cases the
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front and rear suspensions share the same characteristics, Equation (5) simpli®es
as follows:
1† ÿ
1† ÿ

F 1† t† ˆ kf
f
zf t† ‡ zr t† ‡ rf
f
z_ f t† ‡ z_ r t† 10†
1† 1†
where it has been assumed that r ˆ f , since the considered modal shape is
almost symmetrical (Figs. 3 and 4).
The generalized force F 1† t† expressed by (10), reaches its maximum when the
two bogie displacements are in phase. According to Equation (6), this condition is
satis®ed when the phase shift is a whole multiple of 2, that is:
ˆ 2
m m ˆ 1; 2; 3 . . . 11†
On the basis of Equation (8), it is possible to re-express the condition (11) in terms
of irregularity wavelength. This leads to the de®nition of particular wavelength
values, that hereinafter will be called `critical wavelengths'. Considering the ®rst
car body mode they are expressed as follows:
1† p
cm ˆ m ˆ 1; 2; 3 . . . 12†
m
This means that all the harmonic components of the track irregularity associated
with wavelengths which are whole submultiples of the pivot pitch p, are suitable
for introducing the maximum energy content, for the 1st ¯exural vibration mode.
1†
The notation adopted in (12) indicates cm as the mth critical wavelength for the
®rst ¯exural vibration mode. The meaning of the excitation condition corre-
1†
sponding to the second critical wavelength c2 ˆ p2 is presented in Figure 12.
Remembering the ®rst, condition for maximum car body excitation (Equation (9)),
1†
once the critical wavelength is ®xed (e.g., c2 ), only one vehicle speed will cause
resonance excitation of the car body ®rst ¯exural vibration mode. Considering all the
critical wavelength values, only certain particular vehicle velocities satisfy Equation
(9): these are called `critical velocities'. In conclusion, the two excitation conditions
 NUMERICAL FOR RAILWAY VEHICLE COMFORT ASSESSMENT 181
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Fig. 12. Excitation mechanism associated with the half-pivot-pitch irregularity wavelength.

mentioned before are simultaneously satis®ed when the train speed assumes the
following critical values:
p
Vcm1† ˆ cm
1†

f1 ˆ
f1 m ˆ 1; 2; 3 . . . 13†
m
1† 1†
The notation Vcm is analogous to the one presented for cm , while f1 corresponds to
the eigenfrequency of the 1st ¯exural vibration mode.
The described excitation mechanism can be easily extended to the other car body
1†
modes characterized by almost symmetrical modal shapes. Actually, the cm can be
considered critical wavelengths for all the symmetrical modes, such as the rigid
vertical mode or the third ¯exural mode. The meaning of critical velocity is sum-
marised in Figure 13, for the particular case of the car body's ®rst ¯exural vibration
mode: as illustrated before, for every harmonic component of the track irregularity,
with wavelength , it is possible to determine a velocity value V that is potentially
suitable for exciting the vibration mode at the frequency f1. However, the maximum
generalized force F 1† and the effective car body excitation are guaranteed only by
1†
those cm values which satisfy the condition (12).
The critical velocity phenomenon is particularly important for the ®rst car body
1†
¯exural vibration mode, mainly in the case of the second critical velocity Vc2 . In fact,
from a mathematical point of view, it is possible to ®nd an in®nite number of critical
velocities for a certain vibration mode but, from an engineering point of view, two
aspects must be considered:
 in a typical irregularity PSD function (such as that of Fig. 5), the amplitudes of the
harmonic components and the associated energy introduced in the system, decrease
with the reduction of wavelength ;
 the energy introduced by the track irregularity varies with V 2 .
 182 G. DIANA ET AL.
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Fig. 13. Critical velocities for the ®rst car body ¯exural vibration mode at frequency f1.

According to these considerations, only the higher critical speeds are actually
suitable for introducing enough energy to excite the car body modes. In most cases the
1†
second critical speed Vc2 is the most important, since usually the ®rst ¯exural car
1†
body mode is in the range 7±12 Hz, and this makes the ®rst critical velocity Vc1 be
1†
higher than 400 km/h, while Vc2 may fall into the working conditions range. The
1†
amplitude of the irregularity harmonic component corresponding to c2 ˆ p=2,
combined with the high train speed, may produce signi®cant consequences on the car
body vibration levels.
Taking into account the frequency of the ®rst ¯exural mode (around 7 Hz) and the
pivot pitch of the vehicle considered in this paper, the ®rst critical speed sets at
440 km/h. Since the maximum allowed speed Vmax for this train is 250 km/h, this
critical condition can be ignored. On the contrary, the values of the second and the
third critical velocities are respectively 220 km/h and 145 km/h. This is the reason
why the vehicle response for the two different simulation conditions presented in
Figure 9 is so different. The train speed is mainly responsible for the different
excitation levels of the vehicle car body : since 180 km/h is not a critical velocity for
the ®rst ¯exural mode, this explains the decreased weight of the harmonic component
round 7 Hz, in comparison with the corresponding numerical results for the
simulation at 220 km/h. These analytical results have been veri®ed through extensive
comparison with the data of the experimental campaign described in Paragraph 2.

7. CONCLUDING REMARKS

This paper deals with the analysis of railway vehicles comfort. A new numerical
model is proposed and validated through comparison with experimental measure-
 NUMERICAL FOR RAILWAY VEHICLE COMFORT ASSESSMENT 183

ments. Starting from the analysis of the experimental data, it is pointed out how the
vehicle's components ¯exibility turns out to be unavoidable in order to correctly
reproduce the actual system dynamic behaviour. The proposed model accounts for car
body, bogies and wheelsets ¯exibility, through modal superposition approach;
vibration modes can be either calculated by means of F.E. models or identi®ed
through experimental modal analysis. The numerical-experimental comparison
demonstrates the suitability of the implemented procedure to reproduce the in¯uence
of the local deformation effects associated with the electric converters suspended
under the car body ¯oor, and the effect of vehicle speed on the car body's dynamic
excitation. An accurate investigation on the factors and mechanisms that in¯uence the
vehicle's dynamic response is performed, underlining the importance of the inter-
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action between vehicle speed, car body ¯exibility and local deformations. The
proposed numerical model can be used to simulate and forecast the comfort behaviour
of a railway vehicle, starting from the design stage, in order to modify design
parameters and obtain optimal vehicle performance.

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