Assessment of the efficiency of railway wheel dampers using laboratory methods within the STARDAMP project

Betgen, B., Pascal, B., Thompson, D.J., Demilly, F. and Gerlach, T. (2012) Assessment of the efficiency of railway wheel dampers using laboratory methods within the STARDAMP project. 38th German Annual Conference on Acoustics (DAGA), Darmstadt, Germany. 19 - 22 Mar 2012.

Abstract

Noise is one of the major issues for the expansion of railway traffic. Within a relatively wide speed range, rolling noise is the predominant railway noise source. In recent years, rail and wheel absorbers have been developed by different manufacturers that show to be effective devices for the reduction of rolling noise. STARDAMP (Standardization of damping technologies for the reduction of railway noise) is a Franco-German research project within the DEUFRAKO framework that unites end users, manufacturers and research institutes. The target of STARDAMP is to support the transfer from R&D of wheel and rail dampers to their regular application. A key factor in this context is the development of new testing methods for the assessment of damper performances. Today, such tests are usually performed as field tests that are costly and time consuming. These shall be replaced by standardized laboratory measurement and calculation techniques. The present contribution deals with a proposition for a wheel absorber testing protocol, combining finite element calculations, experimental modal analysis and analytical calculations using TWINS software. Results for different wheels and absorbers are presented.

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Contributors

Author: D.J. Thompson

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