Abstract
Companies which manage railway networks have to cope continually with the problem of operating safety and maintenance intervention issues related to rail surface irregularities. A lot of experience has been gained in recent years in railway applications but the case of tramways is quite different; in this field there are no specific criteria to define any intervention on rail surface restoration. This paper shows measurements carried out on some stretches of a tram network with the CAT equipment (Corrugation Analysis Trolley) for the principal purpose of detecting different states of degradation of the rails and identifying a level of deterioration to be associated with the need for maintenance through rail grinding. The measured roughness is used as an input parameter into prediction models for both rolling noise and ground vibration to show the potential effect that high levels of roughness can have in urban environment. Rolling noise predictions are also compared with noise measurements to illustrate the applicability of the modelling approach. Particular attention is given to the way the contact filter needs to be modelled in the specific case of trams that generally operate at low speed. Finally an empirical approach to assess vibration levels in buildings is presented.
Highlights
Railway rolling noise is generated by the vibrating wheels and rails and is induced by the roughness at the contact between the two
In cities served by trams, noise and vibrations are important reasons for nuisance and complaint
Airborne noise from railways can result in a wide range of frequecies, and normally for what concerns the wheel/rail interaction, the range of interest is between 100 and 5000 Hz [1]
Summary
Railway rolling noise is generated by the vibrating wheels and rails and is induced by the roughness at the contact between the two. The purpose of the work presented here is to determine a suitable limit curve for tramways using an indirect procedure, based on the simulation of noise and vibration from measured roughness data. The accelerometer-based instrument CAT (Corrugation Analysis Trolley) [5], was used in the campaign of measurements to detect the longitudinal profile of the rail surfaces This instrument is in compliance with the latest requirements of the European regulation in force, EN 15610 [6]. The roughness spectrum of the rail with lowest roughness (M) has been fitted with a double slope line (labelled CS in Figure 2) following a trend similar to the one of the TSI limit curve This CS line can provide a ‘smooth’ term of comparison for the other spectra. Measured roughness at different sections compared with limit curve from TSI [4] and smooth reference curve CS
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