Modelling comparison of actively-steered railway vehicles using Simpack and Matlab

This paper presents modelling of a 2-axle railway vehicle using two different simulation packages and compares simulation results of the two models. A simplified model of the railway vehicle is developed in ‘Matlab/Simulink’ environment and a full model is obtained by building/connecting blocks using a multi-body simulation package called ‘Simpack’. The simulation results of the two models are presented, and controllers for active steering of the vehicle, which have been developed using the simplified linearised model in Matlab, are assessed using the non-linear detailed model in Simpack. The main purpose of the paper is to describe a methodology in which advanced controllers can be designed using Matlab/Simulink, and then verified and comprehensively evaluated in the Simpack environment.