High-Frequency Resonances of Train-Track Coupled System Due to Multiple Wheels Interference

Abstract

A significant resonance pattern at high frequencies around 400[Formula: see text]Hz to 1000[Formula: see text]Hz has been well observed from measured rail accelerations. Such resonances are key issues for rail noise and corrugation. Although this pattern has been noted and discussed in various papers in terms of wave reflections among multiple wheels, the aim of this study is to develop novel dynamic model and reveal generation mechanism of this resonance phenomenon with the train-track coupled system. An infinite Timoshenko beam with continuous supports is adopted for modeling the track system, and the point and transfer receptances of the rail for a moving excitation are explicitly deduced by the residue theorem together with a Fourier transform-based method. A frequency-domain method is then established to calculate the power spectral densities (PSD) of the train-track coupled system responses to stochastic irregularities with the moving vehicle model with multiple wheels. It is found that the high-frequency resonances occur when the reflected waves generated from multiple wheels on the rail are exactly in phase with the initial track irregularity. The load speed has negligible influence on the wheel–rail interaction in the lower frequency range and a small influence in the upper frequency range only for very high train speeds.