Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Investigation on Cross-Legged Silent Rail

In order to reduce wheel-rail noises, a cross-legged silent rail was designed. Unlike the traditional silent rail, an extension layer is added between rail and the damping layer, moreover, the extension layer and the constraining layer are interlaced mutually. The structure was optimized using the finite element method. Based on the optimized results that aluminum material with a thickness of 1 mm should be taken as the expansion layer, IPN damping material as the damping layer and 2 mm thick steel as the constraining layer, a prototype of the cross-legged silent rail was made and tested in laboratory. The tested results show that vibration duration time of the cross-legged silent rail is only 1/5 of the standard rail, and compared with the standard rail, its radiation sound pressure level decreases by 10.4 and 13.2 dB respectively at vertical excitation and lateral excitation.