Comparison of Track Vibration Characteristics for Domestic Railway Tracks in the Aspect of Rolling Noise

An important source of noise from railways is rolling noise caused by wheel and rail vibrations induced by acoustic roughness at the wheel-rail contact. The main contributors to rolling noise are the sleepers, rail, and wheels. In order to analyze and predict rolling noise, it is necessary to understand the vibrating behaviors of railway tracks, as well as of the wheels. In the present paper, theoretical modeling methods for railway track are reviewed in terms of rolling noise; these methods are applied for the three representative types of domestic railway tracks operated: the conventional ballasted track, KTX ballasted track and KTX concrete track. The characteristics of waves propagating along rails are investigated and compared among the types of tracks. The tracks are modeled as discretely supported Timoshenko beams and are compared in terms of the averaged squared amplitude of velocity, which is directly related to the sound radiation from the rails.