Response of a continuous guideway on equally spaced supports traversed by a moving vehicle

An algorithm is developed to analyze the dynamic response of a continuous guideway resting on equally spaced supports being traversed by a moving vehicle. A critical speed, one at which the amplitude of the guideway displacement becomes large, is determined. The critical speed corresponds to the slowest possible speed at which a transverse wave can propagate longitudinally in the guideway structure. A parametric study is also presented.