Mechanical Assessment of Maglev Vehicle: A Proposal for Implementing Maglev Trains in Iran

Rapid development of transportation industries worldwide, including railways and the never ending demand to shorten travel time during trade, leisure, etc. have caused planning and implementation of high-speed railways in many countries. Variety of such systems including magnetic levitation (maglev) has been introduced to the industry. Contrary to traditional railway vehicles, there is no direct contact between maglev vehicle and its guideway. These vehicles travel along magnetic fields that are established between the vehicle and its guideway. Therefore, these vehicles can travel at very high speeds. The replacement of mechanical components by electronics components overcomes restrictions of conventional railway. Manned maglev vehicles have recorded speed of travel equal to 581km/hr. This has practically paved the way to manufacture super high-speed trains. Currently, there are ElectroMagnetic Suspension (EMS) and ElectroDynamic Suspension (EDS) systems available to the industry. There are also varieties of vehicles that are manufactured based on these two types of systems. Mechanical engineering plays vital roles in design and analysis of suspension systems and corresponding vehicles. In this research, different types of maglev suspension systems and vehicles are studies. It is the purpose of this research to design a model for magnetic suspension system and a model for maglev vehicle. Static and dynamic live loads due to the maglev vehicle are investigated and mathematical model of maglev loading is presented. The proposed model for maglev vehicle is thoroughly analyzed for its static and dynamic loading. This study is focused on the dynamics of maglev vehicle. Modeling vehicle/guideway interactions and then explain the response characteristics of the maglev system for a five-car vehicle traveling on a single-span guideway, with emphasis on vehicle/guideway coupling effects are accomplished. Design of maglev vehicle with finite element method is also considered. Results justify practicality of the proposed suspension system and vehicle for Tehran-Mashhad maglev project.