Vibration Analysis of Coupled Multilayer Structures with Discrete Connections for Noise Prediction

Abstract

It is often necessary to calculate the vibration of noise from multilayer structures comprising several substructures coupled with discrete connections. A dynamic flexibility method (DFM) is adopted to decouple the multilayer substructures, which allows the interface forces among the substructures to be directly solved using a linear equation of deformation compatibility. The structural vibrations and power flows into each substructure can then be calculated. To illustrate the use of the DFM, a coupled train–track–bridge system for urban rail transit traffic is investigated as a case study. Two infinite plate models are used to model the U-shaped bridge substructure to improve the computing efficiency compared with the finite element models in calculating high-frequency vibration. The applicability of the infinite plate models is discussed in terms of various rail positions on the bridge, the thickness of the rail support blocks, and multiple wheels that interface with the rail. The results show that the Mindlin plate model has similar accuracy but much greater computing efficiency than the finite element models. With the vibration results from the DFM, the associated wheel–rail noise and structure-borne noise from the bridge are then calculated together with a 2D acoustic model. Good agreement is observed between the predicted noises and the measured data.