Analysis and design of a low-noise railway wheel

Abstract

The design and construction of a new ‘constrained layer’ damping treatment for railway wheels is presented. A numerical procedure was used for the loss factor calculation. This procedure, first verified on a plate by means of experimental modal analyses, allowed the best treatment thickness and arrangement to be chosen among those commercially available and technologically feasible. The work ended with the construction of a prototype and subsequent tests in the laboratory and in the field. The success of these tests justified the start of production of low-noise wheels treated in this way.