Field measurements of the elastic vibration of a car body (CB) and its coupling with the underframe equipment vibration were carried out for a high-speed railway vehicle, it was found that there was a significant increase of CB elastic vibration when passing a particular location and the equipment absorbed little of the CB vertical elastic vibration. In order to reduce the CB elastic vibration, the suspension parameters of the underframe equipment in the roll direction were optimized. A simplified vehicle model including the roll motion of the CB and the underframe equipment was built for theoretical study, in which the modal displacement of the CB floor corresponding to the CB diamond mode was extracted from finite-element analysis. Based on the frequency response analysis, the frequency range in which the elastic vibration was magnified was obtained. By increasing the roll moment of inertia of the equipment and decreasing lateral distance between the suspension points, the roll frequency of the underframe equipment was decreased and the CB vibration was reduced. To verify the analysis, a three-dimensional multi-body dynamic railway vehicle system was established in SIMPACK. The optimized parameters were validated and shown to be effective for absorbing the CB diamond-mode elastic vibration.

By addressing the phenomenon of carbody abnormal vibrations in the field, the acceleration of the carbody and bogie was measured using accelerometers, and the diamond mode of the carbody was identified. The equivalent conicity of the wheelset and the acceleration at the frame end indicated that the shaking of the carbody was caused by bogie hunting. In the SIMPACK simulation, the acceleration frequency and amplitude at the frame end and midsection of the side beam were calculated. The lateral deformation amplitude of the side beam in the finite element model was extracted, and a modal shape function for the diamond-shaped mode was established. By utilizing the modal vibration equation, the modal generalized forces of the carbody were computed, revealing that, during carbody shaking, the yaw damper force contributed significantly among the forces of the secondary suspension, with the phase difference between the front and rear bogies approaching 180°. This insight offers a novel perspective for subsequent active control strategies. Subsequently, these modal generalized forces were applied as external excitation to a coupled vibration model encompassing both the carbody and transformer. Aiming to reduce the acceleration amplitude at the side beam, the transformer was treated as a dynamic vibration absorber, allowing for the optimization of its lateral suspension parameters. As a result, the lateral and vertical acceleration amplitudes at the side beam were concurrently reduced, with the maximum decrease reaching 58.5%, significantly enhancing the ride comfort.

In order to validate the running safety on track of railway vehicle, a numerical analysis is performed with a multi-body vehicle dynamics model built. Follow the vehicle-track interaction (VTI) evaluation declared in north America standard declared by Federal Railway Association (FRA), a Minimally Compliant Analytical Track (MCAT) worthiness analysis is employed. In this investigation, the analytical track geometry irregularities which consist of surface, vertical and short warp are defined. Then the running performances concerning the derailment safety of the vehicle is discussed by evaluating the wheel unloading and derailment coefficients. Vibration acceleration of the carbody is also monitored to evaluate the ride comfort. By changing the track irregularities MCAT, the impact of track wavelength, gauge and cant deficiency on the dynamic performance of the vehicle can be assed.