Interaction of Vehicles and Flexible Tracks by Co-Simulation of Multibody Vehicle Systems and Finite Element Track Models

Abstract

Co-Simulation gives a suitable framework for coupling software-tools specialized for the application in different fields of mechanics and/or physics, particularly if based on different mathematical methods. For the computational analysis of a vehicle’s running behaviour usually a Multibody System approach is used while flexible tracks – representing for example a bridge – are best examined with the help of Finite Element software. Now, for the simulation of a vehicle running on a flexible track without neglecting the inherent interaction, an obvious and promising strategy is to simulate each of the two subsystems (vehicle and flexible track) with the appropriate software concurrently and to exchange the interfacing data at discrete communication points. To minimize the numerical effort, the track’s finite element model can be reduced modally to a linear description in a pre-processing step additionally; the resulting linear equations of motion of the track can then be solved analytically with high efficiency. An application of the strategy is demonstrated by a truck and the encounter of two railway vehicles each running on bridges.