Design and optimization of nine degrees of freedom suspension model for hyperloop pods

The concept of Hyperloop systems is proposed to cater the needs of high-speed transportation of goods and passengers. This technology comprises low-pressure tubes, pods and terminals. The pods travel inside the low-pressure tubes at very high speed between the terminals. One of the crucial aspects of this technology is the design of suspension systems for pod stability. It has been accentuated that a wheel-based suspension system is a superior option for subsonic speed travel with the minimum achievable technology and leaving higher performance for future developments. Therefore, a nine DOF wheel-based suspension model is proposed for Hyperloop pods in the present work. The design of the proposed suspension model is developed considering the high acceleration and normal and emergency braking events in Hyperloop systems. The objective of the proposed design is to minimize pod displacements due to various possible excitations. Equation of motion for the model is firstly derived, and the responses for the various excitations are obtained using a Simulink model and Newmark β method. Subsequently, the design parameters of the proposed model are optimized using the Simulink optimization tool. The response of the pod with the proposed suspension model is compared with the responses of existing suspension models to ensure better pod stability. Finally, acceleration and braking events in the Hyperloop environment are considered with the load transfer mechanism. Subsequently, a parametric study on the response of the Hyperloop pods with a proposed suspension model with optimized parameters is performed considering normal and emergency braking events.