Specification of estimation of a passenger car ride smoothness under various exploitation conditions

The stability and smoothness of rolling stock running could be defined accurately by universal Sperling's comfort index. The divergences of variation of Sperling's comfort index of a passenger car under specific operating conditions of running gear are examining in this paper. Numerical simulations of a passenger car running with independently rotating wheels under various conditions have been performing. Gained results showed that divergences of the Sperling's comfort index variation are particularly significant due to running gear component oscillations in the horizontal plane (lateral direction). A field experiment of a passenger car with a solid (traditional) wheelset with a flat running surface proved this hypothesis. The obtained results of this experiment confirmed this assumption. Therefore, the study of the regularities of lateral oscillations of a passenger car is the logical direction of further research.