An Innovative Procedure for the Rolling Noise Evaluation

Noise is often generated by pressure changes in the air induced by mechanical vibrations. The study of these phenomena is known as structural acoustics or, in a more fashionable way, virboacoustics. Vibroacoustics is the study of the mechanical waves in structures and how they interact with, and radiate into, adjacent media. In railway the most important noise source, based on fluid and structure interaction is the rolling noise. The aim of the paper is the development and implementation of a numerical method for the rail decay rate and combined roughness calculation according to the FprCEN/TR 16891:2015 and a subsequent evaluation of the excess noise level in accordance with the ISO/FDIS 3095: 2013. The tool, as a final results, will make possible the evaluation of the rail parameters without the involvement of long and expensive test campaign based on classical roughness measurement methods and will permit the compensation of the roughness induced excess noise level for a comparative comprehension of the acoustic experimental data.