Title: Evaluating the elastic sleeper efficiency in reduction of railway ground vibrations by in situ impact-response test

Authors: Hamidreza Heydari; Jabbarali Zakeri; Morteza Esmaeili

Addresses: School of Railway Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, 13114-16846, Hengam St., Resalat Square, Tehran, Iran ' School of Railway Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, 13114-16846, Hengam St., Resalat Square, Tehran, Iran ' School of Railway Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, 13114-16846, Hengam St., Resalat Square, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Using the elastic sleeper is a state-of-the-art solution to reduce the railway track vibrations. For this purpose, an elastic pad is attached to the underneath of the sleeper. So, this research tries to investigate the efficiency of elastic sleepers in reduction of the vibrations by performing in-situ impact-response tests. So, a number of elastic sleepers produced by attaching the polyurethane pads were installed along a test track for running the field experiments. Then, vertical vibration velocity was measured using geophones in two cases of with and without elastic sleeper for various distances. The obtained results show that using elastic sleepers caused the vibration velocity to be decreased by more than 40% in average. Meanwhile, frequency analyses demonstrate that the effects of elastic sleeper appear beyond frequency of 30 Hz with the maximum reduction in the vibration level being recorded at 50 Hz where the vibrations are reduced by more than 8.6 dB.

Keywords: elastic sleeper; field measurement; vibration reduction; ballasted railway; track; impact-response test; under sleeper pad.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVNV.2021.123442

International Journal of Vehicle Noise and Vibration, 2021 Vol.17 No.3/4, pp.237 - 252

Received: 22 May 2021
Accepted: 03 Oct 2021
Published online: 20 Jun 2022 *

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