An Efficient Approach for Stochastic Vibration Analysis of High-Speed Maglev Vehicle-Guideway System

The high-speed maglev vehicle-guideway coupled system (MVGCS) is a complex system, whose random vibration characteristics have not been well studied due to a limited number of examples. To address this issue, a new efficient approach is proposed for the random vibration analysis of the MVGCS, which combines the probability density evolution method and multi-time step method with multiple random loads considered. The random model established for 10-degree-of-freedom maglev vehicles and guideway is time-dependent, considering two different supporting conditions. The Monte Carlo method is used to assess the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approximate approach, and the random model is verified through comparison with available results. The stochastic dynamic responses of the vehicles, guideway, and electromagnetic levitation forces, including the mean values and standard deviations, are determined in a case study. The results show that the proposed method is feasible for the dynamic analysis of maglev systems with a reasonably good efficiency in computation. Furthermore, critical parametric analyses involving vehicle speed, irregularity, and cut-off wavelength are performed with the results discussed.