Dynamics of Magnetically Levitated Vehicles on Flexible Guideways

Abstract

Magnetically levitated vehicles have been discussed in recent years for application on personal rapid transit in highly populated areas and high speed transport over large distances. The magnetic suspension control of the vehicle has been usually designed assuming rigid guideways. On the other hand, the dynamics of the guideways has been investigated only for vehicles, with spring-dashpot suspension. However, the suspension control and the guideway dynamics are coupled resulting in a multivariable system. In this paper the complete vehicle-guideway system is considered.