Control of Railway Wheelsets – A Semi-active Approach

This paper presents a detailed study of semi-active approach for railway wheelsets. A number of control strategies for active primary suspensions for both solid axle wheelset and independently rotating wheelsets are examined in detail and the key requirements of energy flows on both curved and straight tracks are investigated. A semi-active control scheme is then proposed for the independently rotating wheels and a comprehensive performance evaluation is provided to demonstrate that the proposed semi active control system can be used to continuously and reliably provide the necessary steering control without the need for the energy injection of full active control.