High-speed trains for U.S. railroad tracks must traverse twists and turns. In conventional trains, the axles are fixed in steel frames called trucks. The trucks pivot as the train goes into a curve, but the fixed axles stay parallel to each other, even though the front axle tends to go in a different direction from the rear axle [24]. If the train is going fast, it may jump the tracks. One solution uses axles that pivot independently. To counterbalance the strong centrifugal forces in a curve, the train also has a computerized hydraulic system that tilts each car as it rounds a turn. On-board sensors calculate the train's speed and the sharpness of the curve and feed this information to hydraulic pumps under the floor of each car. The pumps tilt the car up to eight degrees, causing it to lean into the curve like a race car on a banked track.
The tilt control system is shown in Figure P7.39. Sketch the root locus, and determine the value of K when the complex roots have maximum damping. Predict the response of this system to a step input R(s).
Figure P7.39
Tilt control for a high-speed train.