Curve squeal in sharp curves: effect of multiple wheel/rail contact points
Curve squeal in sharp curves: effect of multiple wheel/rail contact points
Curve squeal is one of the most annoying noise problems related to the operation of trains, trams, and metros in urban environments. It typically occurs in sharp curves, which are very common in urban areas, and is disturbing for both passengers and people in proximity to the line. Curve squeal is characterized by a loud tonal noise that usually occurs close to the natural frequencies of the wheel. It is generally attributed to the self-excited vibration of the wheel, as a result of the contact phenomena taking place at the wheel/rail interface during curve negotiation. An experimental campaign has been carried out on a sharp tramway curve to measure noise emission due to curve squeal. This revealed that different squealing frequencies and noise levels were generated by two different tramcars of the same type. The presence of a second contact point between the flange back of the leading inner wheel of one of the tramcars and the groove rail was found to be the reason behind these dissimilar experimental results. Thus, the aim of this work is to assess the role of the flange back contact condition on the excitation of squeal noise. A curve squeal prediction model is formulated in the frequency domain to include the presence of multiple wheel/rail contact patches. Numerical simulations reveal that this contact condition can significantly alter the squealing frequencies involved, similarly to what is observed in the pass by sound pressure measurements. The contact on the flange back is found to promote mode-coupling mechanisms in the proximity of close pairs of wheel vibration modes. These results suggest that the potential presence of multiple contacts between wheel and rail should be considered to obtain reliable curve squeal predictions.
Curve squeal, Frequency-domain model, Multiple contact points, Tramways
Castellini, Federico
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Faccini, Leonardo
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Di Gialleonardo, Egidio
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Alfi, Stefano
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Corradi, Roberto
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Squicciarini, Giacomo
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Thompson, David
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30 January 2024
Castellini, Federico
0005e90c-6457-49bb-88a6-6d31d76e3df9
Faccini, Leonardo
c4f56462-18c5-4921-94e6-411493dc6def
Di Gialleonardo, Egidio
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Alfi, Stefano
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Corradi, Roberto
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Squicciarini, Giacomo
c1bdd1f6-a2e8-435c-a924-3e052d3d191e
Thompson, David
bca37fd3-d692-4779-b663-5916b01edae5
Castellini, Federico, Faccini, Leonardo, Di Gialleonardo, Egidio, Alfi, Stefano, Corradi, Roberto, Squicciarini, Giacomo and Thompson, David
(2024)
Curve squeal in sharp curves: effect of multiple wheel/rail contact points.
Applied Acoustics, 218, [109862].
(doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2024.109862).
Abstract
Curve squeal is one of the most annoying noise problems related to the operation of trains, trams, and metros in urban environments. It typically occurs in sharp curves, which are very common in urban areas, and is disturbing for both passengers and people in proximity to the line. Curve squeal is characterized by a loud tonal noise that usually occurs close to the natural frequencies of the wheel. It is generally attributed to the self-excited vibration of the wheel, as a result of the contact phenomena taking place at the wheel/rail interface during curve negotiation. An experimental campaign has been carried out on a sharp tramway curve to measure noise emission due to curve squeal. This revealed that different squealing frequencies and noise levels were generated by two different tramcars of the same type. The presence of a second contact point between the flange back of the leading inner wheel of one of the tramcars and the groove rail was found to be the reason behind these dissimilar experimental results. Thus, the aim of this work is to assess the role of the flange back contact condition on the excitation of squeal noise. A curve squeal prediction model is formulated in the frequency domain to include the presence of multiple wheel/rail contact patches. Numerical simulations reveal that this contact condition can significantly alter the squealing frequencies involved, similarly to what is observed in the pass by sound pressure measurements. The contact on the flange back is found to promote mode-coupling mechanisms in the proximity of close pairs of wheel vibration modes. These results suggest that the potential presence of multiple contacts between wheel and rail should be considered to obtain reliable curve squeal predictions.
Text
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Accepted/In Press date: 5 January 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 January 2024
Published date: 30 January 2024
Keywords:
Curve squeal, Frequency-domain model, Multiple contact points, Tramways
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 490721
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/490721
ISSN: 0003-682X
PURE UUID: d549827b-69c7-4f31-a7f8-9d5dd3931f3c
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Date deposited: 04 Jun 2024 16:52
Last modified: 05 Jun 2024 01:44
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Contributors
Author:
Federico Castellini
Author:
Leonardo Faccini
Author:
Egidio Di Gialleonardo
Author:
Stefano Alfi
Author:
Roberto Corradi
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