As a critical component of the railway vehicle, underframe equipment has a great influence on the ride comfort of railway vehicles due to their big mass and active vibration. Therefore, study on the relationship between suspension parameters of underframe equipment and the modal frequency of carbody is extremely crucial for controlling the ride quality of railway vehicles. In this paper, a finite element model of the carbody was developed to investigate the effects of the suspension location, the mass of the suspension equipment, and the suspension frequency on the mode of the carbody. Then, the matching relationship between the suspension parameters and the modal frequency of the carbody was studied through the transfer function. In addition, roller rig tests were performed to verify the numerical simulation model of the carbody. The results show that the suspension parameters of the underframe equipment have a great influence on the mode of the carbody, especially for the frequency of the first bending mode. To improve the frequency of carbody high-frequency bending and reduce energy transfer, equipment with a large mass should be suspended toward the middle of the carbody. The weight of the equipment strongly affects the first bending frequency and energy transfer of the carbody. The frequency of heavy suspended equipment should be sufficiently low to increase the transmissibility of high frequencies and improve the vibration characteristics of the carbody. Although the bending frequency of the carbody can be improved effectively by increasing the suspension stiffness of the suspension equipment, in order to reduce carbody vibration effectively, the suspension frequency of the equipment should be slightly lower than the carbody bending frequency.

Carbody vibration control and ride comfort improvement are important research parts of high-speed railway vehicle dynamic. The effectiveness of utilizing carbody underframe suspended equipment as dynamic vibration absorbers for carbody vibration suppression has been validated. While previous research has focused mainly on a single suspended equipment without considering its vibration tolerance, a balance must be struck between reducing carbody vibration and maintaining equipment performance. To address the challenging, a multi-objective and multi-parameter optimization method is employed, integrating an improved niche genetic algorithm (INGA) into the numerical simulation process. Considering carbody flexible and multi-suspended equipment, a rigid-flexible dynamics model of a high-speed railway vehicle is established and validated on a vehicle dynamics test rig. Based on the numerical analysis, the optimal parameter combination of the stiffness and the longitudinal installation position is obtained from an evaluation function that comprehensively assesses the vibration performance of both the vehicle carbody and the equipment. Comparative analysis between the results obtained from the optimal and primitive parameters demonstrates that the optimization process not only achieves significant improvements in carbody vibration reduction but also effectively controls equipment vibration within reasonable limits. The multi-objective and multi-parameter optimization method applied on carbody underframe suspended system proves to be valuable in improving the dynamic performance of high-speed railway vehicles.

Valve-controlled semiactive hydraulic dampers were implemented into the secondary lateral suspension of a high-speed rail vehicle to enhance the ride comfort. Dynamic tests on the damper were performed to analyze the force characteristics and response delays. Roller rig tests on the vehicle were further conducted to elaborate control efforts under various track irregularities at speeds up to 440 km/h. On-track tests on the train were also conducted to assess the ride comfort improvement achieved with the active suspension. Results show that control laws, including constant damping, sky-hook on-off, and sky-hook continuous damping, can greatly restrain car body vibration and then improve ride comfort by a maximum 19% in Sperling index with a bandwidth of 1∼20 Hz. The on-track test at 160 km/h confirmed the suspension’s capability to mitigate low-frequency vibrations below 2.5 Hz, achieving an 11% improvement. This study elaborates the behavior of the valve-controlled damper, highlighting its effectiveness in enhancing ride comfort and optimizing vehicle dynamics under operational conditions.

Bogie hunting instability is one of the common faults in railway vehicles. It not only affects ride comfort but also threatens operational safety. Due to the lower operating speed of metro vehicles, their bogie hunting stability is often overlooked. However, as wheel tread wear increases, metro vehicles with high conicity wheel–rail contact can also experience bogie hunting instability. In order to enhance the operational safety of metro vehicles, this paper conducts field tests and simulation calculations to study the bogie hunting instability behavior of metro vehicles and proposes corresponding solutions from the perspective of wheel–rail contact relationships. Acceleration and displacement sensors are installed on metro vehicles to collect data, which are processed in real time in 2 s intervals. The lateral acceleration of the frame is analyzed to determine if bogie hunting instability has occurred. Based on calculated safety indicators, it is determined whether deceleration is necessary to ensure the safety of vehicle operation. For metro vehicles in the later stages of wheel wear (after 300,000 km), the stability of their bogies should be monitored in real time. To improve the stability of metro vehicle bogies while ensuring the longevity of wheelsets, metro vehicle wheel treads should be reprofiled regularly, with a recommended reprofiling interval of 350,000 km.