Contribution
Acoustic optimization by targeted disturbances in the consistent track structure
* Presenting author
Abstract:
The reduction of railway noise is considered a key aspect for the expansion of the German railway network. The aim of this investigation is to assess the potential impact of irregularities in the standard superstructure configuration on rolling noise. A numerical FDM model is used to generate both correlated and uncorrelated disorder through the periodic and stochastic variation of three key properties: the pad stiffness, the sleeper mass, and the sleeper spacing. A brute force method is used to identify optimized superstructure designs according to different target criteria. This shows that a widening of the blocked zone occurs, particularly for the periodic combination of soft and hard pads. In addition, the stochastic variation of the sleeper spacing with a high dispersion leads to a significant weakening of the dominant pinned-pinned frequency. Similarly, the parallel periodic variation of pad stiffness and sleeper spacing has a positive influence on both target criteria. By bundling all findings of the single and pairwise variations, the targeted joint variation of all superstructure properties is ultimately achieved, leading to the most effective overall influencing superstructure design.