Suspension Monorail Vehicle Dynamic Performance Simulation Comparative Study

According to the differences in configuration of the running gear, monorail transportations can be divided into two types-straddle type, and suspension type. Nowadays, the only city in China equipped with straddle monorail transportation is Chongqing. This means that suspended monorail is not fully applicable to current Chinese traffic. Suspension monorail transportation have low cost, effective use of the upper space and short construction period merit. By now, Chinese cities such as Jiuzhaigou and Jintang County have signed deals on this technology. If the deal were conducted, Chinese railway will be perfected, and a brighter future will be seen shortly.Worldwide, two types of suspended monorails are used for merchandise operation, which are German asymmetrical steel wheel and Japanese SAFEGE. But, our country the study of two kinds of suspension monorail vehicles less, two modes of related problem is imminent. In this thesis, the development and status quo of suspended monorail is introduced, as well as diverse categories of it. Two types of monorail bogie 3D models are built through SolidWorks to analyze the characteristics and running mechanisms of the mentioned suspended monorails. Since few suspended monorails are used in our country, this thesis will study the prospect of this technology on the basis of foreign application experiences and the features of suspended monorails. By using Multibody Dynamics software-SIMPACK, dynamic models of German asymmetrical steel wheel and Japanese SAFEGE are built. Suspended monorail, as an oscillatory system with multi-degree of freedom, shall be effected by all kinds of turbulences and forces. So by analyzing the operation condition and relevant indicators, the dynamic performance of the two monorails can be compared and studied, including how stable and comfortable they are and their curve line negotiating capacity under both common circumstances and encountering side wind. Also the operation performance of these two monorails will be evaluated.The result shows that both of these two suspended monorails are stable, comfortable and hold favorable curve line negotiating capacity. All indicators fall in the standards, either under normal circumstances or when encountering with side wind. However, Japanese SAFEGE has better critical speed, stability and curve line negotiating capacity, comparing with the German asymmetrical steel wheel, which indicates that the former one has better dynamic performances.The thesis can only reveal that Japanese SAFEGE has better dynamic performances than German asymmetrical steel wheel. In field practice, other factors such as costs, maintenance and noise should also be taken into consideration.