THE APPLICATION OF SANDWICH COMPONENTS IN THE DESIGN OF THE NEW TRANSRAPID MAGLEV TR08 VEHICLES

摘要

A new generation of the Transrapid Maglev vehicles has been developed using the Alusuisse hybrid design concept. The hybrid system uses longitudinal hollow aluminium extrusions combined with foam core sandwich panels of aluminium as face layers. In addition to the reduction of mass, hybrid design helps to save production costs. These savings are based on the simplified assembly techniques using a modular concept (via laser welding and riveting), the integration of insulation (as the foam core), and the outstanding impact behaviour. The latest generation TR08 of the Transrapid maglev vehicle family has been designed to travel at speeds up to 500 km/h. The challenge of very stringent requirements for structural safety, of noise and vibration control, and for ease of assembly of the vehicle have been met by using a core sandwich material with aluminium facing layers combined with aluminium profiles, as the basic construction materials. In order to prove the design, sophisticated finite element modelling techniques have been established especially for the structural sandwich components. Finite element results and their evaluation (e.g. for structural reliability) are presented with respect to design considerations and procedures. Finally the latest results of the measurements from the test track in Germany are compared with the results of the numerical analyses in order to assess their agreement with the values obtained from the model.