Improved measurement methods for railway rolling noise

Some of the issues related to railway noise type testing are discussed and potential improvements to existing procedures are put forward. New and improved methods that also go beyond the scope of type testing are presented that help to characterize and analyze rolling noise more accurately. These methods are indirect measurement of total wheel...

Experimental determination of pass-by noise contributions from the bogies and superstructure of a freight wagon

Pass-by noise from freight trains on straight tracks is dominated by rolling noise. The main contributions are generally accepted to originate from vibrations of the track and the wheels. However, there is uncertainty about the contributions from the bogie and the wagon superstructure. This article describes experimental methods to determine...

Theoretical optimization of track components to reduce rolling noise

The control of railway rolling noise requires a reduction in wheel and track noise emission. In this paper, a parametric study of the possible minimization of the track sound power is presented. In an initial global approach, a number of potential variations in track parameters are assessed in terms of their likely effect on rolling noise. From...

Roughness on Dutch railway wheels and rails

Surface roughness on 150 railway wheels and on the rails of 30 sites in the Netherlands have been measured. Block braked wheels were found to show higher roughnesses than the rail at any site. The smoothest rail is 8 dB smoother than the smoothest wheel. It was concluded that in reducing railway rolling noise NS must start to find ways to lower...

A calculation model for the noise from steel railway bridges

The sound level of a train crossing a steel railway bridge is usually about 10 dB higher than on plain track. In the Netherlands there are many such bridges which, for practical reasons, cannot be replaced by more intrinsically quiet concrete bridges. A computational model is described for the estimation of noise levels due to a train crossing a...

Experimental validation of the twins prediction program for rolling noise. Pt.2: Results

Two extensive measurement campaigns have been carried out to validate the TWINS prediction program for rolling noise, as described in part 1 of this paper. This second part presents the experimental results of vibration and noise during train pass-bys and compares them with predictions from the TWINS program. The model is found to give quite...

On the relationship between wheel and rail surface roughness and rolling noise

Theoretical models linking rolling noise and surface roughness have been available for some 20 years. For even longer, the qualitative link has been acknowledged between the presence of visible corrugation on rail or wheel surfaces and increased noise generation. This roughness, or undulation in the surface profile, has wavelengths of most...

Rapporteur's report: Session 2

Experimental validation of the twins prediction program for rolling noise. Pt.1: description of the model and method

The C163 Expert Committee of the European Rail Research Institute (ERRI) concerned with Railway Noise, has been developing theoretical models for the generation of wheel/rail rolling noise. These models have been brought together into a software package, called TWINS ("Track-Wheel Interaction Noise Software"). This is intended as a tool with...