Stabilization Control for Hunting Motion of Railway Vehicle by Gyroscopic Damper: Experimental Analysis Using 1/10 Scale Vehicle Model

Railway vehicles experience the problem of hunting motion above a critical forward speed, which is the resonance of a flutter-type self-excited oscillation owing to nonconservative contact force acting between wheels and rails. This oscillation produces large amplitude motion and can cause derailment of railway vehicles. Traditional methods preventing the hunting motion are utilization of yaw-damper or improvement of the support stiffness. In this study, a stabilization control method for hunting motion by a gyroscopic damper is proposed. It is theoretically clarified by linear eigenvalue analysis that the gyroscopic damper is effective for increasing the critical speed of hunting motion. Furthermore, experiments were made using a 1/10 scale vehicle model. The experimental results show the validity of the gyroscopic damper for the stabilization of hunting motion.