Passing Performance of Inverted T-shaped Frog Turnouts for Suspended Monorail Vehicles

Abstract

[Objective] The suspended monorail transportation system holds promising prospects, yet researches on the dynamics performance of vehicle passing through turnouts remain relatively scarce, requiring comparison for further exploration. [Method] A vehicle dynamics model is established using the multi-body dynamics software UM. The main evaluation indicators include the carbody maximum vibration acceleration, the running wheel maximum vertical force, the maximum vertical force of guide and stable wheels, and the maximum lateral roll angle of carbody and suspension beam. The passing performance of suspended monorail vehicles through inverted T-shaped frog turnouts applied in the suspended monorail transportation system is studied. [Result & Conclusion] The structure of the inverted T-shaped frog turnouts causes significant guiding rail surface irregularity, making it difficult to ensure that the guiding force of the guide wheels does not exceed the safety limit when a suspended monorail vehicle is passing through curved segment turnouts. To solve this problem, a guiding rail surface compensation device is proposed. After applying this device, the suspended monorail vehicle can safely pass through inverted T-shaped frog turnout with a 50 m radius structure at a speed of 15 km/h, leading to a noticeable improvement in the dynamics performance.

Keywords

• suspended monorail vehicle
• inverted t-shaped frog turnout
• dynamics performance