Biaxial Characteristic Tests of Air Spring for Railway Vehicles under Large Displacement Conditions

Air springs used in railway vehicles are normally used within a range of several tens of millimeters in the vertical direction, but during an earthquake, displacements far exceeding this range may occur. The authors evaluated the characteristics of the air springs, such as their internal pressure and vertical force, through large vertical displacement excitation tests. However, since rolling vibration of the car body is dominant in vehicle behavior due to earthquake motion, it is thought that large displacements will occur in the air springs in the lateral direction as well as the vertical direction. In this report, we describe the results of static and dynamic large displacement excitation tests conducted on two axes, vertical and lateral, to evaluate the mechanical characteristics of the air springs.