RIDE QUALITY - AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT FACTOR IN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

A portable data acquisition system has been developed and used to obtain field test data on a number of air and ground vehicles. Automatic data reduction techniques have been utilized, and developed where necessary, to present the measured data in useful, concise form. The vibration data parameters found to be of significant value include power spectral density distributions and frequency-of- occurrences of given levels of vibration. Vibrations in the lateral and vertical degrees of freedom appear to have significant influence on ride comfort at vibration levels as low as, or lower than, 0.lg acceleration. Vibration environments for the various type vehicles tend to be random in nature with the vibrational energy concentrated in the frequency range below 15 Hz and with a significant amount below 1 Hz, which is the region generally associated with motion sickness. For a train, subjective ride discomfort observations could be reasonably well correlated with peak lateral vibrations. This correlation formed the basis of a trial program of using vibration measurements as a quantitative index for identifying sections of rough track which could benefit from maintenance. Of all vehicles studied, the jet transport had the lowest vibration environment.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Presented at the 1971 International IEEE Conference on Systems, Newtorks, and Computers, Oaxtepec, Mexico, January 19-21, 1971.
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

  3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor
  New York, NY  United States  10016-5997
• Authors:
  • CONNER, D W
• Publication Date: 1971-1

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 5 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Lateral acceleration; Passenger comfort; Ride quality; Suspension systems; Vehicle dynamics; Vibration
• Old TRIS Terms: Vibration levels
• Subject Areas: Railroads; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00080360
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 11 1976 12:00AM