As a novel form of railway transportation, maglev transportation has the advantages of a better curve negotiation ability and grade ability and lower noise and vibration than traditional urban wheel–rail transportation. Thus, it is suitable for use in urban public transportation. However, the levitation of the widely utilized electromagnet suspension (EMS) system relies on continuously active suspension force adjustment, which gives it vehicle–track-coupled vibration characteristics different to those of the traditional wheel–track transportation system. Despite many research studies focusing on maglev vehicle–track coupling vibration, the environmental vibration influences associated with the running of maglev trains are still unclear. When the vibration propagates to the surroundings beyond certain thresholds, it may lead to various vibration serviceability problems. Practical test results on the environmental vibration induced by maglev transportation are still not enough to generate convincing vibration propagation and attenuation laws. In this research, a series of in situ tests were carried out around the Shanghai maglev line; the results show that the viaduct bridge is helpful in reducing environmental vibration, and an empirical formula was proposed to predict the effect of viaduct column height. Due to the ground wave superposition, a vibration-amplifying zone was also found about 10 m away from the maglev line, in which the vibration magnitude was strong enough to be perceived by the surrounding occupants.

Background: Shanghai Maglev Demonstration Line is the only commercial high-speed maglev train line in the world, which has multiple functions such as transportation, exhibition, tourism and sightseeing. Besides, Shanghai Maglev Demonstration Line has been in operation for 15 years, and has been operating safely and punctually. Maglev protected area are located within 30 meters of the left and right sides of the Shanghai Maglev Demonstration Line and unrelated persons are not allowed to enter the area. When there were external construction invading the protected area, it is neccessary to do the comprehensive technical monitoring and protection. Without similar project to refer to, Metro Line 13 traversing Shanghai Maglev Line was a big challenge. Therefore, effective measures should be taken to do the comprehensive technical monitoring. Finding the relation between the maglev deformation and shield construction parameters was an important part of the monitoring. Aim: This thesis aimed at finding the relation between the maglev deformation and shield construction parameters and controlling the maglev deformation in the crossing of Metro Line 13, thus guiding the shield construction. Methods: This thesis calculated the gray relation between the maglev deformation and shield construction parameters from the cause of deformation of the maglev by the gray relation analysis. Results: The construction parameters optimization and the sensitivity control are carried out. Meanwhile, combined with the measured results of deformation monitoring, the multi means parallel monitoring data are analyzed synthetically and the data are checked, and the construction parameters are adjusted reasonably to make the pier column deformation in the controllable permissible range, having ensured the safe operation of the maglev. Conclusion: The calculation results has provided a reference for realizing active control on the influence of shield construction on the maglev and has remedied the defect that could only use deformation monitoring but could not control the deformation actively in the past work. The gray relational analysis has a certain effect on controlling the influence of shield construction on surrounding structures and has certain reference significance for subsequent similar projects.

Research on low-speed maglev technology has been conducted for more than thirty years in China. After years of efforts to bring it into operation, decision-makers of Beijing's government made up their minds to initiate the building of the S1 line at the end of last year. The feasibility study of Urban Transit Line 8, adopting this system in Shenzhen city, is also near completion. Undoubtedly, a low-speed maglev system is very promising for its lower noise, better climbing capacity and ability to negotiate smaller radius curves as compared with a wheel-rail system. However, there are still many challenges with regard to using this system in densely built urban areas due to the lack of space for system arrangement. Based on experiences from the Tobu Kyuryo low-speed line, the Shanghai high-speed maglev line and low-speed maglev test line, this work summarized problems to be solved for a low-speed maglev system to build a more "compact" system in such areas. This study was concerned with continuing system optimization - including the selection of guideway structures, the strategy for vehicle stopping, and inspection and maintenance which determine the configuration of facilities - in order to increase the efficiency of space and land use.

The National Maglev Technology R&D Center (NMTC) has been doing research on low-speed maglev technologies since 2005. The Shanghai low-speed maglev test line was built in July 2006 with a total length of 2.0 kilometers. During the layout of the test line, situations that may arise in engineering practice were taken into account. For the guideway system, different types of structures for the main line and the vehicle maintenance line, of different spans, were produced and erected. From 2006 to 2010, numerous tests have been systematically conducted on the line, covering all sub-systems. According to experiences from the Shanghai high-speed maglev line, dynamic response of the guideway structure may have a great influence on the stable running of a maglev vehicle. During these tests, dynamic responses of different types of girders and track skeletons wee recorded and analyzed, including accelerations, displacements and stresses. The responses of different parts of the guideway switch were also taken in order to make evaluations and find its weakness to guide further optimization. Through these analyses, some instructive suggestions for the design of guideway structures were acquired.

A turnout is the main equipment for maglev vehicles to change from one line to another. The current turnouts of maglev transportation vibrate under the vehicles’ excitation. To reduce the vibration level, it is common to install a vibration absorber or optimize the turnout structure. Regardless of the method, it is necessary to acquire turnout dynamic characteristics first. In this paper, we take an elastic-bending turnout of maglev transportation as the object and research its dynamic characteristics. First, an FEM model is established to calculate the dynamic characteristics of an elastic-bending turnout. Second, consistency of the results from simulation and tests are verified. Third, the difference between the natural frequency in straight and curve positions is analyzed. Finally, optimization of the turnout structure is put forward based on the FEM model. According to the analysis, this paper provides basis for vibration absorber design and lays the foundation for turnout structure optimization.

Guideway inspection is of great significance to the operation safety and riding quality of a commercial high-speed maglev transportation system. When analyzing guideway inspection data, it is important to obtain the location information for each piece of raw data and convert it from the time domain to the spatial domain for the analysis afterward. Previous studies have used the method of adding additional hardware such as GPS (global positioning system) receivers, LRF (location reference flag) readers, or onboard CAN (controller area network) bus adaptors to obtain location information. This paper presents a novel method for indirectly obtaining the location information via the use of data from the levitation and guidance control sensors perpendicular to the longitudinal direction to extract the characteristic information from the track. The method can be used for a long stator linear motor-driven maglev system and similar contactless rail transit systems. The results showed that the method could accurately identify the required location information in each stator tooth during the entire operation simultaneously with the operating information such as train velocity, direction, and track ID, without additional hardware installation and vehicle network connection. Thus, it could improve the pertinence of the results of guideway inspection equipment, and at the same time, facilitate the miniaturization and independence of guideway inspection equipment.