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An engineering model for the prediction of the sound radiation from a railway track

An engineering model for the prediction of the sound radiation from a railway track
An engineering model for the prediction of the sound radiation from a railway track
Models for predicting railway rolling noise such as TWINS are well-established and have been validated against field measurements. However, there are still some areas where improvements are required. In particular, the radiation from the rail is based on a model of a rail in free space whereas in reality the rail is located close to the ground; there are also limitations in the existing model for the sound radiation from the sleepers. Besides, the influence of the ballast absorption on the sound power radiated by the track is neglected. This paper draws on recent research into the effects of the proximity of the rail and sleeper to an absorptive ground on their sound radiation, based on the boundary element method. In reality, the rail is located above the ballast over part of its length, and attached periodically to the concrete sleepers elsewhere. The sound radiation of the rail for those two situations can be predicted using the 2D boundary element method. In order to obtain a realistic rail radiation model for engineering applications, a method to combine those two results is proposed and the resulting average rail radiation is verified by using a 3D boundary element model. An improved sleeper radiation model is also proposed and verified using the 3D boundary element model. These new engineering models for the rail and sleeper radiation have been used together with TWINS to predict the sound radiation from operational tracks and the results have been compared with field measurements. Compared with the TWINS model, the rail radiation is found to be increased below 300 Hz, but decreased above 1 kHz; the sound radiation from the sleeper is reduced compared with the TWINS model below 600 Hz.
sound radiation from railway track, absorptive ground, railway ballast, boundary element method, radiation ratio, elementary noise sources
0022-460X
Zhang, Xianying
2d0ba27f-b78b-4823-938f-fa42d6787ab5
Thompson, David
bca37fd3-d692-4779-b663-5916b01edae5
Quaranta, Erika
4de6c2c7-ed83-4b97-b063-2be41f39a122
Squicciarini, Giacomo
c1bdd1f6-a2e8-435c-a924-3e052d3d191e
Zhang, Xianying
2d0ba27f-b78b-4823-938f-fa42d6787ab5
Thompson, David
bca37fd3-d692-4779-b663-5916b01edae5
Quaranta, Erika
4de6c2c7-ed83-4b97-b063-2be41f39a122
Squicciarini, Giacomo
c1bdd1f6-a2e8-435c-a924-3e052d3d191e

Zhang, Xianying, Thompson, David, Quaranta, Erika and Squicciarini, Giacomo (2019) An engineering model for the prediction of the sound radiation from a railway track. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 461, [114921]. (doi:10.1016/j.jsv.2019.114921).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Models for predicting railway rolling noise such as TWINS are well-established and have been validated against field measurements. However, there are still some areas where improvements are required. In particular, the radiation from the rail is based on a model of a rail in free space whereas in reality the rail is located close to the ground; there are also limitations in the existing model for the sound radiation from the sleepers. Besides, the influence of the ballast absorption on the sound power radiated by the track is neglected. This paper draws on recent research into the effects of the proximity of the rail and sleeper to an absorptive ground on their sound radiation, based on the boundary element method. In reality, the rail is located above the ballast over part of its length, and attached periodically to the concrete sleepers elsewhere. The sound radiation of the rail for those two situations can be predicted using the 2D boundary element method. In order to obtain a realistic rail radiation model for engineering applications, a method to combine those two results is proposed and the resulting average rail radiation is verified by using a 3D boundary element model. An improved sleeper radiation model is also proposed and verified using the 3D boundary element model. These new engineering models for the rail and sleeper radiation have been used together with TWINS to predict the sound radiation from operational tracks and the results have been compared with field measurements. Compared with the TWINS model, the rail radiation is found to be increased below 300 Hz, but decreased above 1 kHz; the sound radiation from the sleeper is reduced compared with the TWINS model below 600 Hz.

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An engineering model for the sound radiation from railway track_Final - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 21 August 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 22 August 2019
Published date: 24 November 2019
Keywords: sound radiation from railway track, absorptive ground, railway ballast, boundary element method, radiation ratio, elementary noise sources

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 433604
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/433604
ISSN: 0022-460X
PURE UUID: 7f9d9f16-e3b2-41dd-8b54-24130de24812
ORCID for David Thompson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7964-5906
ORCID for Erika Quaranta: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6632-9947
ORCID for Giacomo Squicciarini: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2437-6398

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Date deposited: 28 Aug 2019 16:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 02:44

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Contributors

Author: Xianying Zhang
Author: David Thompson ORCID iD
Author: Erika Quaranta ORCID iD

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