Superconducting electrodynamic suspension (EDS) systems show great promise for high-speed transportation. However, they are subjected to random vibrations due to spatial magnetic field higher harmonics and geometric irregularities from the ground levitation and guidance coils (LGCs), which affect the magnetic-thermal stability of superconducting coils (SCs) and overall vehicle operation. Therefore, the vibration characteristics of the EDS system is crucial for vehicle design. This article presents a comprehensive electromechanical coupling co-simulation of a three-car, four-bogie train, integrating a dynamic circuit equation with a dynamics equation. Random excitations from lateral and vertical irregularities serve as inputs for the dynamic magnetic-track relations. The dynamic responses are simulated at medium-low speed, high speed, and ultra-high speed (200, 400, and 600 km/h). The analysis focuses on both the time domain and frequency domain vibration characteristics of the bogie and car body. Additionally, the stability of the vehicle body is evaluated using acceleration and the Sperling stability index. Results indicate that the maximum lateral and vertical accelerations remain within acceptable limits, demonstrating that the EDS train maintains good riding comfort even at high speeds. The model developed in this article could be extended to analyze additional scenarios, such as irregularities in the electrical parameters of track coils or curved track transitions.

This paper studies the influence of lateral and local rail deformation on the train–track interaction dynamics in high-speed railways. While the traditional method ignores the curvature of a laterally and locally deformed rail and treats it as a straight rail with an additional displacement, this paper considers the laterally and locally deformed rail as a curved rail and models the train–track interaction with lateral and local rail deformation using a reduced beam model with necessary changes to fit the curved rail. Thus, the presented model is more realistic and can accurately and efficiently analyses the influence of lateral and local rail deformation on the train–track interaction dynamics. After calculation of dynamic responses of train–track interaction with lateral and local rail deformation with and without rail irregularities, the influence of the amplitude of lateral and local rail deformation and vehicle velocity on transient derailment criteria is analysed, and the derailment boundary is finally obtained. It is found that the traditional method underestimates dynamic responses of train–track interaction with lateral and local rail deformation and overestimates the derailment boundary of the vehicle, and the risk of derailment and rail damage increases with the increasing amplitude of the lateral and local rail deformation.

Crosswind is a critical environmental factor affecting the dynamic interaction between the pantograph and catenary in high-speed trains, which can severely compromise the operational stability of the system. To address this challenge, this study develops an active pantograph control scheme for crosswind disturbances by employing a neural network-based PID controller. First, the target value is determined based on the train operating speed and inherent data of the pantograph-catenary system, and a PID controller is constructed. Subsequently, a neural network is integrated into the controller to train the system’s output contact force and PID parameters using its nonlinear approximation capability, thereby optimizing the parameters and achieving effective control of the system. The effectiveness of the controller is then validated by applying the proposed method to a high-speed train pantograph-catenary system under crosswind conditions, with its control performance thoroughly analyzed. The results indicate that the proposed control scheme demonstrates effective regulation of the pantograph-catenary system across various typical crosswind scenarios, achieving significant reduction or even complete elimination of pantograph-catenary’s contact loss rate while exhibiting strong robustness, thereby proving fully applicable for practical implementation in high-speed railway engineering applications.

The increasing operation speed of high-speed trains allows the pantograph to continuously interact with the catenary over a long distance in a short time, and many new methods have been developed to efficiently calculate its dynamics. However, the existing methods only consider simple catenary systems, which limits their application in high-speed railway systems. In this work, a reduced pantograph–stitched-catenary interaction model is developed to simulate pantograph–stitched-catenary interactions during long-distance travel. Based on the existing reduced catenary model, the stitched catenary system is first considered, where the stitched wire is simplified into a part of the messenger wire supported by two spring-damping elements. The present model is validated by test results and the EN 50318:2018 standard, and it is subsequently used to study the dynamic performance of the pantograph–stitched-catenary system at an overdesigned speed in Sweden. The results show that the proposed model can be seven times faster than the traditional modal superposition method with the same accuracy in a stitched catenary system, and the existing catenary system cannot be operated at an overdesigned speed without increasing the contact wire tension. The present model gives an efficient solution to pantograph–stitched-catenary interaction problems.

A new moving Kirchhoff–Love plate element is developed in this work to accurately and efficiently calculate the dynamic response of vehicle–pavement interaction. Since the vehicle can only affect a small region nearby, the wide pavement is reduced to a small reduced plate area around the vehicle. The vehicle loads moving along an arbitrary trajectory is considered, and the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) method is used here for coordinate conversion. The reduced plate area is spatially discretized using the current moving plate element (MPE), where its governing equations are derived using Lagrange’s equations. The moving plate element is validated by different plate subjected to moving load cases. Then a vehicle–pavement interaction case with constant and variable speed is analyzed here. The calculation results from the moving plate element are in good agreement with those from the modal superposition method (MSM), and the calculation time with the moving plate element is only one-third of that using the MSM. The moving plate element is accurate and more efficient than the MSM in calculating the dynamic response of the vehicle–pavement interaction.