Material characterization of a multi-cavity composite structure for the bogie frame of urban maglev train

Lightweight composite structure has been widely used in various applications such as aerospace, transportation, and marine. The aim of present paper was to design and fabricate a bogie frame composite element of urban maglev train. It was an attempt to use lightweight composite as the primary load carrying structure in rail transit. A combined mold which can be used in autoclave molding process was developed and a multi-cavity composite casting block was manufactured. Three-point bending test and finite element analysis (FEA) were respectively conducted to evaluate the static strength of this structure. The experimental results revealed that the glass fiber reinforced casting block could satisfy the load bearing requirement for application and the weight reduction was approximately 30.9% in contrast with the traditional metal material. Therefore, it was found that the lightweight composite has a significant potential as the load bearing structure for the rail transportation application.