Design and Control of Semi-Active Railway Vehicle Suspension Featuring MR Damper

In this work, control performance of a semi-active railway vehicle suspension system featuring MR damper is evaluated. Firstly, a mathematical model for railway vehicle which contains car body, bogie frame and wheel-set is derived to represent lateral, yaw and roll motions. From this model, design parameters of MR damper are optimally determined. And then, MR dampers which can generate proper damping force to control the unwanted vibration of the railway vehicle are manufactured and evaluated experimentally. In order to attenuate the vibration of railway vehicle, in this work, skyhook controller is designed and implemented. Control performances of MR damper for railway vehicle including car body lateral motion and acceleration of MR damper are evaluated using test rig composed of a car body and two bogies.