Effect of Wave Propagation in a Distributed Energy Absorption System for Trains

The influence of elastic wave propagation along the carriage in high-speed trains on the coordination of energy absorber components is analyzed in this paper. A simplified model is developed to simulate a “like to like” impact scenario of trains with distributed energy absorbing system. A rod made of elastic material is used to simulate a carriage, while the rigid-perfectly plastic-locking (R-PP-L) model is employed to describe the material of the energy absorber. The problem is simplified to a one-dimensional case. The response of absorption components during collision is divided into several stages and the corresponding governing equations of the impact response are obtained and numerically solved. A typical platform phenomenon of response in all stages is observed. The results of theoretical analysis are compared with those of finite element simulation and good agreement is achieved.