Integrated vehicle dynamics control for a mechatronic railway running gear

Abstract

Safety is especially for high-speed railway traffic one of the main aspects that has to be continuously improved to sustainably strengthen the railway sector and shift the modal split. To overcome the limitations of passive systems, an active control of mechatronic running gears provides essential advantages. In the present work, the focus is on the active control of lateral and longitudinal dynamics which are closely coupled via the tangential wheel-rail contact. Therefore, the introduced integrated control concept combines lateral and longitudinal control tasks. After the description of the lateral and longitudinal sub-level controllers the benefits of the integrated control are demonstrated. A comparison of the developed concept with a reference control using a preallocated torque for the lateral track guidance is drawn. The results of a simulation including volatile wheel-rail conditions and a jump in the desired lateral position underline the potential of integrated control to reduce braking distances and simultaneously improve lateral stability.