Overcoming the conflict requirement between high-speed stability and curving trafficability of the train using an innovative magnetorheological elastomer rubber joint

The conflict requirement between high-speed stability and curving trafficability has been always a critical issue of train. This article proposed an innovative stiffness variable magnetorheological elastomer rubber joint, which contains two sets of electromagnetic coil, magnetorheological elastomer, and three iron flanks to overcome the conflict requirement. To characterize the proposed magnetorheological elastomer rubber joint, an MTS machine was used to test the field-dependent property, the amplitude-dependent performance, and the frequency-dependent response. The test results verified the stiffness variation capability of the proposed magnetorheological elastomer rubber joint. After the characterization, the magnetorheological elastomer rubber joint was then embedded onto a train model. In the simulation, different curve tracks and different train speeds were simulated to evaluate the effectiveness of the magnetorheological elastomer rubber joint on reducing the angle of attack. Additionally, the critical speeds of the train models were tested and compared when the magnetorheological elastomer rubber joint was working in softened and stiffened mode, respectively. The simulation results demonstrated that the magnetorheological elastomer rubber joint can offer soft and hard wheelset positioning stiffness under different requirements so that both the high-speed stability and curve trafficability of the train can be guaranteed.