Study on railway curve squeal using a rigid-flexible coupling model of vehicle and track

Squeal noise occurring in narrow curves is one of the most annoying noise issues for people living by the railway track. When vehicles pass through those curves, squeal noise is mainly generated due to the large, high-frequency, lateral sliding friction force. To investigate generation mechanism of curve squeal, a three-dimensional (3D) vehicle-track interaction model with a flexible wheelset and a flexible curved track is built in a multi-body simulation tool in this paper. Compared to conventional rigid models, this model allows to obtain the high frequency friction force between wheel and rail. This calculated friction force in the frequency domain is analyzed to identify the major modes. Those modes are compared with the modal properties of the wheelsets and rails in order to determine which of their modes have the main contribution to the friction force and the squeal noise. In addition, a parametric study is performed to study the influence of vehicle speed, curve radius, wheel/rail friction coefficient and further parameters on the dominant modes of friction forces.