Experimental Study on the Rail Damper for Vibration and Noise Control and Rail Corrugation Suppression

Abstract With the rapid construction of rail transportation infrastructure, vibration issues caused by wheel–rail interactions during train operation have become a significant concern. Excessive vibration can lead to rail defects, such as corrugation, and also cause environmental vibration and noise problems in surrounding buildings. Rail dampers have been proposed to mitigate these issues by reducing rail vibration across multiple frequency bands. This paper presents a comprehensive experimental study on evaluating the effectiveness of rail dampers in reducing vibration and noise, as well as in suppressing the development of rail corrugation. Specifically, numerical simulations were conducted to design the optimal mass distribution of the rail dampers. The designed dampers were then installed on two operating railway sections, and the dynamic characteristics of the rails were measured and analyzed before and after rail damper installation to demonstrate their effectiveness in mitigating train-induced vibration and noise. Additionally, rail corrugation was measured over a period of 463 days, comparing development with and without rail damper installation. The experiments demonstrate the practical effectiveness of rail damper in mitigating rail vibration issues, and these findings can serve as a reference for related research and engineering applications.