On new effects of wheel-rail interaction

The paper is devoted to the experimental, theoretical analysis and computer simulation of influence of elastic properties of contact stiffness and wheel-plate stiffness on the forces of vehicle-track interaction. Three types of wheels are considered with different contact stiffness and wheel-plate design. Exemplary simulation of freight car interaction with track which posses one corrugated rail for each type of wheel is presented.     

Semi-active stabilisation of a pipe conveying fluid using eddy-current dampers: state-feedback control design,experimental validation

An application of electromagnetic devices of the motional type (i.e. eddy-current dampers) to improve the dynamic stability of a cantilever pipe discharging fluid is proposed. When the flow velocity reaches a critical value, this system loses stability through the flutter. A contactless damping device is used. This actuator is made of a conducting plate attached to the pipe that moves together with it within the perpendicular magnetic field that is generated by the controlled electromagnets. During the motion the eddy currents in the plate and a resultant drag force of a viscous character are generated. First, an optimal control problem that aims to stabilise the system with the optimal rate of decrease of the system’s energy is posed and solved. Then a state-feedback parametrization of the obtained optimal control, which can be used in a closed-loop scheme is proposed. The effectiveness of the designed optimal controller is validated by making a comparison with the corresponding passive solutions on the specially designed and constructed experimental test stand of a pipe conveying air.

     

Stabilization of a cantilever pipe conveying fluid using electromagnetic actuators of the transformer type

The article presents an investigation of the stabilization of a cantilever pipe discharging fluid using electromagnetic actuators of the transformer type. With the flow velocity reaching a critical value, the straight equilibrium position of the pipe becomes unstable, and self-excited lateral vibrations arise. Supplying voltage to the actuators yields two opposite effects. First, each of the actuators attracts the pipe, thus introduces the effect of negative stiffness which destabilizes the middle equilibrium. Second, lateral vibrations change the gap in magnetic circuits of the actuators, which leads to oscillations of magnetic field in the cores and the electromagnetic phenomena of induction and hysteresis that impede the motion of the pipe. The combination of these two non-linear effects is ambiguous, so the problem is explored both theoretically and experimentally. First, a mathematical model of the system in form of a partial differential equation governing the dynamics of the pipe coupled with two ordinary differential equations of electro-magnetodynamics of the actuators is presented. Then, the equation of the pipe’s dynamics is discretized using the Galerkin procedure, and the resultant set of ordinary equations is solved numerically. It has been shown that the overall effect of actuators action is positive: the critical flow velocity has been increased and the amplitude of post-critical vibrations reduced. These results have been validated experimentally on a test stand.