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The development of rail-head acoustic roughness

The development of rail-head acoustic roughness
The development of rail-head acoustic roughness
A model of the development of rail-head acoustic roughness on tangent track has been formulated. The model consists of a two-dimensional time domain wheel-rail interaction force calculation, with the normal force used as the input to a two-dimensional rolling contact and wear model. The possibility of multiple wear mechanisms arising from stress concentrations is considered by using a wear coefficient that can vary with the conditions at each point in the contact. The contact model is based on a variational technique, taking account of non-Hertzian and transient effects. A novel feature of the rolling contact model is the introduction of a velocity-dependent friction coefficient. In rolling contact this leads to a high frequency stick-slip oscillation in the slip zone at the trailing edge. Roughness development depends on the dynamics of the track. Roughness growth has often been linked to the pinned-pinned frequency and other resonances of the coupled track and vehicle system. Here the effect of different vehicle and track parameters on track dynamics, wear and roughness development has been examined. Rail dampers are studied as they change the dynamic response of the track. Results are presented in the form of roughness growth rate functions both for individual vehicle types and for mixed traffic. The model parameters match those at a site used for measurements of roughness development taken by Deutsche Bahn AG as part of the EU project Silence. The study shows that it is important to include non-Hertzian effects when studying roughness with wavelengths shorter than 100 mm. With a non-Hertzian contact model, no mechanism has been found for consistently increasing roughness levels. The model predicts that roughness wavelengths shorter than the contact length will wear away. Rail dampers are shown to reduce the pinned-pinned frequency and smooth the peaks and troughs in the track receptance. Rail dampers also reduce the dynamic wheel-rail interaction forces, especially around the pinned-pinned resonance, and shift the force spectrum to lower frequencies or longer wavelengths. However, rail dampers are not predicted to affect roughness growth rates significantly.
Croft, Briony Elizabeth
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Croft, Briony Elizabeth
5d300a2e-54bc-4b72-8316-f6a88e88bb84
Jones, C.J.
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Thompson, David
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Croft, Briony Elizabeth (2009) The development of rail-head acoustic roughness. University of Southampton, Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, Doctoral Thesis, 293pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

A model of the development of rail-head acoustic roughness on tangent track has been formulated. The model consists of a two-dimensional time domain wheel-rail interaction force calculation, with the normal force used as the input to a two-dimensional rolling contact and wear model. The possibility of multiple wear mechanisms arising from stress concentrations is considered by using a wear coefficient that can vary with the conditions at each point in the contact. The contact model is based on a variational technique, taking account of non-Hertzian and transient effects. A novel feature of the rolling contact model is the introduction of a velocity-dependent friction coefficient. In rolling contact this leads to a high frequency stick-slip oscillation in the slip zone at the trailing edge. Roughness development depends on the dynamics of the track. Roughness growth has often been linked to the pinned-pinned frequency and other resonances of the coupled track and vehicle system. Here the effect of different vehicle and track parameters on track dynamics, wear and roughness development has been examined. Rail dampers are studied as they change the dynamic response of the track. Results are presented in the form of roughness growth rate functions both for individual vehicle types and for mixed traffic. The model parameters match those at a site used for measurements of roughness development taken by Deutsche Bahn AG as part of the EU project Silence. The study shows that it is important to include non-Hertzian effects when studying roughness with wavelengths shorter than 100 mm. With a non-Hertzian contact model, no mechanism has been found for consistently increasing roughness levels. The model predicts that roughness wavelengths shorter than the contact length will wear away. Rail dampers are shown to reduce the pinned-pinned frequency and smooth the peaks and troughs in the track receptance. Rail dampers also reduce the dynamic wheel-rail interaction forces, especially around the pinned-pinned resonance, and shift the force spectrum to lower frequencies or longer wavelengths. However, rail dampers are not predicted to affect roughness growth rates significantly.

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More information

Published date: October 2009
Organisations: University of Southampton

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 69564
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/69564
PURE UUID: 55a543f0-93ab-4682-bf2b-dfe42876d4f8
ORCID for David Thompson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7964-5906

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 13 Nov 2009
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:40

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Contributors

Author: Briony Elizabeth Croft
Thesis advisor: C.J. Jones
Thesis advisor: David Thompson ORCID iD

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