Numerical and experimental investigation of innovative composite sandwich shock absorber mountings for metro railway applications

Innovation in railway industry points the focus on the production of lightweight vehicles, with high performance, in order to save the energy power and to satisfy the environmental and safety requests. To pursue this aim, innovative materials have been increasingly used for vehicle components and structures. In this paper, the structural behavior of the shock absorber mountings (SAMs) of a novel metro rail vehicle end (RVE) has been analyzed. The innovative RVE integrates aerodynamic, structural and crash functionalities in a single lightweight component. Numerical and experimental activities on a SAM prototype have been performed to validate the innovative component. Both numerical and experimental results underline that the final configuration of the SAM exhibits adequate strength and stiffness under prescribed load.