Performance Analysis of Piezoelectric Actuators in Railway Wheel Squealing Noise Mitigation

Abstract

Application of a shunted piezoelectric system in reduction of the squeal noise level in railway wheels is studied. A wheel squeal model including the railway track, wheel, and nonlinear interaction contact forces is taken into account in the time domain. Consequent vibration of the wheel is calculated at incident of sharp curve passing. The sound pressure level (SPL) of the noise is then calculated by an analytical method. Performance of different shunt circuits including the R (resistance) and RL (resistance inductance) is evaluated in different frequency ranges. A new methodology is proposed to achieve multimode damping. According to results, the SPL of wheel squeal noise can effectively get reduced by the proposed method, up to 5 dB at near-field and 10 dB at far-field.