Computer-Based Modeling and Simulation for Vehicle Rail Shipping Impact Analysis

A general methodology is presented which can be used to generate computer based models for simulating the transient response of vehicle systems. The vehicle rail shipping impact analysis has been conducted by using the presented methodology. A system topology of the vehicle model is represented by the graphical representation. The system model is composed of rigid bodies, nonlinear bushing joints and may closed kinematic loops. The formulation and solution of vehicle system equations is often difficult and expensive because of the large number of algebraic constraints and dependent variables. The modeling and simulation procedures reveals that substantial algorithm simplicity and computational efficiency can be achieved by taking advantage of system topology, matrix methods and other numerical techniques to effectively eliminate excess equations and variables. The application of this method also demonstrates a computational procedure for simulating the Rail Impact (Rail Hump) phenomenon and to understand the dynamic impact load distributions in the vehicle body and chassis systems. It has been observed that there will be shock and vibration environment generated during rail transport. The chain and chock tie-down shipping methods have been investigated. The results indicate that different rail shipping tie-down methods result in different dynamic impact load distributions in vehicle body and chassis systems.