Impact of electric locomotive traction of the passenger vehicle Ride quality in longitudinal train dynamics in the context of Indian railways

¹ Centre for Transportation Systems, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India
² Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India

^a Corresponding author : sunilsharmaiitr@gmail.com

Received: 9 November 2015
Accepted: 12 July 2016

Abstract

Rail transport is one of the major modes of transportation in India. The dynamic performance of a railway vehicle, in terms of serviceability and safety, was evaluated on the basis of specific performance indices such as ride quality and comfort. This paper is an attempt to analyse the longitudinal dynamic model of the passenger train for the attainment of better vehicle ride quality and comfort. The modelling has been done in two phases: in the first phase, a mathematical model was analysed which was further used for the evaluation of the longitudinal dynamic forces that appear on the buffer, draw gear and fastening devices during the braking process. The second phase includes simulation of longitudinal train dynamics considering the effects of forces like rolling resistance, brake force, coupler force and the gravitational force acting externally on a vehicle for better ride quality and comfort in comparison to the traction effect on WAP-5 and WAP-7 Indian locomotives. The Sperling ride index and ISO 2631 were used respectively to calculate the ride quality and comfort using filtered RMS accelerations. Simulation results revealed that WAP-5 was better at an initial speed of 30 km.h^-1 and 45 km.h^-1, whereas, the WAP-7 gave better ride quality and comfort than WAP-5 at and above the speed of 60 km.h^-1.