Experimental Validation in a Controlled Environment of a Methodology for Assessing the Dynamic Behavior of Railway Track Components

Abstract

This article presents a novel methodology conducted under controlled laboratory conditions to assess the dynamic behavior of the components of railway tracks by applying an unbalanced mass excitation force. The methodology for obtaining accurate measurements, which uses different excitation parameters, is based on an unbalanced mass device, and from these data, the transmissibility of the mass-elastomer system is estimated. For assessment of the dynamic behavior, different sine sweep rate excitations, the unbalanced mass, and background noise are considered. The experimental measurements of transmissibility with a shaker and an unbalanced mass device are performed to validate the methodology. For this, frequency-by-frequency transmissibility measurements and the swept sine were performed by the shaker, with a sine sweep from 1 to 51 Hz, using the unbalanced mass device with different sine sweep rates and unbalanced mass. The results obtained allow comparison of the transmissibility by excitation at specific frequencies and the sine sweep to validate the excitation parameters of the unbalanced mass device. Thus, a transmissibility estimation error with the sweep rate, the unbalanced mass, and the background noise is developed. By using the proposed methodology, it is possible to lower the error of the estimated transmissibility of the system with background noise.