Effect of dynamic stiffness of fasteners on vibration and acoustic radiation of a ballastless track

Abstract

A new model for a single wheel rolling over a metro ballastless track is developed. It is used to carry out the analysis on the effect of dynamic characteristics of fastener on the vibration and noise radiation of the wheel and the track in the vertical direction, under the excitation of the wheel/rail uneven surfaces in detail. In this analysis, a rail is modeled as a Timoshenko beam resting on discrete rubber booted short sleepers, and the sleepers are connected with the slab through linear springs and damping units, the slab is modeled by using the FE method, the fastener is characterized by using the Poynting-Thomson model which takes into account that the stiffness and dumping of the fasteners vary with vibration frequency in their service. The dynamic characteristics of the fastener include the variation of its stiffness and damping with frequency. The analysis considers that the fastener dynamic stiffness increases with the excitation frequency while its damping decreases. The vibration and acoustic radiation of the wheel/track is, to varying degree, affected by the dynamic property of the fastener. The vibration and acoustic radiation of the sleeper and the slab is greatly affected by the dynamic property of the fastener. But the effect of the total noise level of the wheel and the track by the dynamic property of the fastener is not so large because the wheel and rail noise is dominant in the whole analyzed system. These conclusions have certain reference values for the study of the vibration and noise reduction measures of the wheel and track coupled system using the fastening characteristic.