Evaluation of Ride Index and Ride Comfort of Railway Vehicle for Indian Railway

Abstract

Specific performance indicators, such as quantitative evaluations of ride index, steadiness of the vehicle and the capability of vehicle to negotiate curving during motion, are used to assess a railway vehicle's dynamic performance in terms of safety. It is critical to improve riding comfort on railway vehicle in order to make them a more comfortable mode of transportation. Acoustic sound, smell, vibration, temperature, seat design, visual stimuli and humidity all affect ride comfort, which is important characteristic for dynamic performance aspects of railway vehicle. Many research have been conducted on evaluation methods for measuring railway vehicles ride comfort and numerous standards or criteria based on those methods have been devised and implemented in numerous nations. This report reviews various standards used for evaluating ride index and relevant research carried out in different countries. Evaluation ride index is carried out by modelling the system in MATLAB. A quarter railway vehicle was modelled and ride index was evaluated using RDSO and OREC-166 Methods. Theoretical and experimental results are analysed for the system. To minimises the error between theoretical and experimental results, A nine degree of freedom system is considered for analysis. Ride index is calculated for this system using RDSO and OREC-116 Methods. Results were compared with the earlier results and experimental results.