Dynamic performance of sleeper-damping track with elastic side-supporting pad

Vibration and noise induced by urban rail transit has been a growing public concern worldwide. A new sleeper-damping track with elastic side-supporting pad (SDTESSP) has been proposed to reduce the environmental vibration caused by metro trains. To evaluate the dynamic performance of SDTESSP system, a refined 3D vehicle-SDTESSP coupled dynamics model was developed in this work. Firstly, the SDTESSP model was established based on the mode superposition method, and the mode shape vectors, and natural frequencies are obtained through a finite element method, and the finite element model of the SDTESSP was verified by the mechanical property and impact tests. Then, the influences of rail irregularities, vehicle running speed, and structural parameters of elastic side-supporting pad (ESSP) on the dynamic performances of the vehicle and SDTESSP are evaluated in detail. Finally, under the same track stiffness, the dynamic responses of the vehicle and track system caused by the conventional elastic under-supporting pad (USP) and the new side-supporting pad (SSP) are compared. The results show that the proposed dynamics model can avoid the difficulty in casting dynamics equation and enables detailed evaluations for the dynamic performance of the SDTESSP system. Furthermore, the optimal thickness and taper range of the ESSP are presented by comprehensively considering all dynamic indexes, and the damping performance of the sleeper-damping track using SSP is better than that using USP.