Vibration Suppression of Railway Vehicle Carbody with Piezoelectric Elements (A Study by Using a Scale Model of Shinkansen)

Piezoelectric elements, which are electrically connected to external shunt circuits, are introduced to suppress bending vibration of a scale model of a railway vehicle. The authors proposed two types of shunt circuits aiming at practical use. One circuit is equivalent to an inductor and a resistor in series, and the other a negative capacitor and a resistor, and both circuits are designed for use under conditions of large vibration amplitude that causes high voltage generated by the elements. Results of excitation tests show that the first bending mode of the scale model can be suppressed successfully. Moreover, the circuit including the negative capacitor can also reduce vibration associated with higher eigen modes simultaneously with the first mode.