Stability control of high-speed bogies using an adaptive vibration absorber

Abstract

In this paper an active bogie stability scheme combining a dynamic vibration absorber (DVA) and an actuator is proposed for high-speed trains, and a control strategy is presented by transforming the actuating force into a virtual part of hybrid DVA whose characteristic frequency and damping can be adjusted. Firstly, a simplified model of the lateral bogie dynamics is established for control system design, and the optimal value of the characteristic frequency and damping of the hybrid DVA are theoretically investigated from the perspective of bogie stability. Then the strategy of active stability is introduced by using the idea of adaptive vibration absorber, and a method for auto-tuning the optimal value of the DVA suspension is proposed. To realize this auto-tuning strategy a method to detect the bogie instability and its frequency is presented. At last, the feasibility of the adaptive vibration absorber is verified by comparing it to a passive one using a co-simulation model of a railway vehicle, and the effect of time delay in the control system on bogie stability is also analyzed.