Discontinuous Pulse Control of Longitudinal Vibrations Within a Train Consist

Abstract

The technological advances made over the past few decades have lead directly to the design and construction of larger and much more flexible fixed foundation structures, longer, more powerful and higher payload train ensembles. During the service life of each of these engineering systems excessive dynamic reactions to applied forces either man imposed or natural must be controlled to ensure the safety and integrity of the system. The control of the dynamic response of large engineering structures under seismic loading conditions has been one of the major areas of research by Civil Engineers in the past few years. Mechanical Engineers have concentrated on the control of large engineering vehicles such as the ocean going “Super Tankers”, NASA’s “Space Shuttle” or the one hundred car “Unit Trains” now used to carry material goods across North America. The Unit Train concept is used extensively throughout North America, whereby a train consist is made up of a number of locomotives and as many as one hundred identical rail cars of up to one hundred tons capacity each for carrying coal, or iron ore, etc. The Norfolk and Western Railroads have successfully tested the use of a five hundred car train consist between Williamson, West Virginia and Portsmouth, Ohio, as reported by Taylor [15]. The extreme lengths and payloads of the unit trains have lead to the development of new operating techniques throughout the railway industry. Trains cannot move without dynamic interactions between the wheels and the rails. The induced longitudinal oscillations of the cars results in longitudinal vibrations throughout the train consist.