Laboratory test and FEM analysis on a developed continuous rail absorber (CRA)

Rail has a significant contribution in overall produced noise in railway freight tracks. Implementing rail noise absorbers is a promising way to increase the attenuation of the vibration. Designing of a rail noise absorber to work in critical frequencies in which the rail undergoes its maximum vibration is crucial. Moreover, total cost of installation, maintenance, repair, and operations as practical aspects of manufacturing have drew the attention of researchers. Regard to this point, the authors have developed a continuous rail noise absorber (CRA) which is composed of steel and elastomeric layers. The lateral and bottom surfaces of the rail is covered by the layers using specialized proprietary adhesive. The initial investigations and survey of the problem is reported in the authors’ previous paper which resulted in proposition of CRA. In this research CRA is produced and laboratory tests are carried out on a disjointed section of Tehran-Zanjan commercial rail track to determine the efficiency of the noise absorber system. It is revealed that the noise of rail availed of CRA is decreased about 9 dB in frequency range 500-2000 Hz. Owing to its noncomplex structure and lower cost of installation, CRA is a desirable noise absorber system for railway administrations. Furthermore, experimental values are compared with those ones obtained through a finite element model which are in a good agreement.