Integrated Model Predictive Control of High-Speed Railway Running Gears with Driven Independently Rotating Wheels

TL;DR

This paper presents an integrated control approach for high-speed railway running gears with independently rotating wheels, combining traction and predictive control to enhance safety, stability, and comfort under various operational conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel integrated control scheme that combines adhesion-based traction control with linear and nonlinear model predictive control for lateral and longitudinal guidance.

Findings

Effective in reducing lateral displacement errors.

Maintains stability at speeds up to 400 km/h.

Handles abrupt changes in wheel-rail adhesion.

Abstract

Railway running gears with independently rotating wheels (IRW) can significantly improve wear figures, comfort, and safety in railway transportation, but certain measures for wheelset stabilization are required. This is one reason why the application of traditional wheelsets is still common practice in industry. Apart from lateral guidance, the longitudinal control is of crucial importance for railway safety. In the current contribution, an integrated controller for joined lateral and longitudinal control of a high-speed railway running gear with driven IRW is designed. To this end, a novel adhesion-based traction control law is combined with linear time-variant and nonlinear model predictive control (MPC) schemes for lateral guidance. The MPC schemes are able to use tabulated track geometry data and preview information about set points to minimize the lateral displacement error. Co-simulation results with a detailed multi-body simulation show the effectiveness of the approach compared with state-of-the-art techniques in various scenarios, including curving, varying velocities up to 400 km/h and abruptly changing wheel-rail adhesion conditions.