Numerical analysis of the influence of lateral suspension parameters on the ride quality of railway vehicles

This paper deals with the influence of parameters of the lateral suspension on the ride quality of railway vehicles during running on a track with lateral deviations, compared to the designing geometry. The ride quality is evaluated at speed 200 km/h, based on lateral accelerations in three reference points of the vehicle carbody. The values corresponding to these accelerations are derived from numerical simulations on a non-linear model of the vehicle with 21 degrees of freedom. The results thus obtained validate a series of features in vibrational behaviour of the railway vehicle and the possibility to improve the ride quality by the best possible selection of the suspension parameters.