A finite element method for analysis of vibration induced by maglev trains

This paper developed a finite element method to perform the maglev train–bridge–soil interaction analysis with rail irregularities. An efficient proportional integral (PI) scheme with only a simple equation is used to control the force of the maglev wheel, which is modeled as a contact node moving along a number of target nodes. The moving maglev vehicles are modeled as a combination of spring-damper elements, lumped mass and rigid links. The Newmark method with the Newton–Raphson method is then used to solve the nonlinear dynamic equation. The major advantage is that all the proposed procedures are standard in the finite element method. The analytic solution of maglev vehicles passing a Timoshenko beam was used to validate the current finite element method with good agreements. Moreover, a very large-scale finite element analysis using the proposed scheme was also tested in this paper.

► We develop a FEM to perform the maglev train–bridge–soil interaction analysis.
► An efficient PI scheme with a simple equation is used to control the maglev force.
► The standard Newton–Raphson method is used to solve the nonlinear dynamic equation.
► The analytic solution was used to validate the current FEM with good agreements.
► Very large-scale finite element analyses were also tested in this paper.