Vibration Characteristics of Vehicle–Track Coupled System

Abstract

This chapter shows the basic vibration characteristics of vehicle–track coupled systems under different wheel–rail system excitations obtained by using the vehicle–track coupled dynamics theory and the corresponding simulation software VICT and TTISIM. Seven typical wheel–rail excitations including smooth rail (no defect), local impact defects, local harmonic geometry defects, cyclic harmonic geometry defects, failure of system components, random track irregularities, and railway infrastructure settlement are considered. The vehicle and track dynamic responses and the wheel–rail interactions under these excitations will provide a general understanding of the dynamic characteristics of the vehicle–track coupled systems. The geometry and parameters of the railway vehicles and tracks adopted in the simulations presented in this chapter are given in the appendix, where the high-speed railway vehicle (Appendix A), the freight wagons (Appendix B), the high-speed ballasted track (Fig. C.1 and Table C.1 in Appendix C), the heavy-haul ballasted track (Table C.2 in Appendix C) and the high-speed ballastless slab track (Appendix D) are illustrated.