Analysis of coupled vibrations between railway vehicle wheels and a rail in both vertical and horizontal directions.

Rolling noise arises from the interaction of the vibration characteristics of rails and railway vehicle wheels through the points of contact. This paper deals with the coupled linear vibration between wheels and a rail on the basis of the previous reports taking also the coupling in both vertical and horizontal directions into account. The vertical irregularity on the head surface of the rail is regarded as a source of excitation. As a result, it became clear that (1) the vertical vibration of the rail, the horizontal ones of wheel and rail, and the vertical one of the wheel contribute to the rolling noise according to high vibration level, and (2) it is effective for the attenuation of vibration propagation through the points of contact along the rail to increase the distributed spring constants of the foundation and the dampings of the rail.