Laboratory Tests and Analyses of the Level of Vibration Suppression of Prototype under Ballast Mats (UBM) in the Ballasted Track Systems

Cezary Kraśkiewicz; Artur Zbiciak; Kacper Wasilewski; Anna Al Sabouni-Zawadzka

doi:10.3390/ma14020313

Laboratory Tests and Analyses of the Level of Vibration Suppression of Prototype under Ballast Mats (UBM) in the Ballasted Track Systems

Materials (Basel). 2021 Jan 9;14(2):313. doi: 10.3390/ma14020313.

Authors

Cezary Kraśkiewicz¹, Artur Zbiciak¹, Kacper Wasilewski², Anna Al Sabouni-Zawadzka²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Roads and Bridges, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Al. Armii Ludowej 16, 00-637 Warsaw, Poland.
² Institute of Building Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Al. Armii Ludowej 16, 00-637 Warsaw, Poland.

Abstract

The present paper is aimed at the analysis of under ballast mats (UBM) which are used in ballasted track structures as vibration isolators and to protect the ballast layer against fast degradation. The mats were tested in the laboratory and afterwards a novel 4-DoF mechanical model of the track structure with UBM was developed. The novelty of this study consists in the comparison of two testing procedures: a procedure based on the popular German standard DIN 45673-5 and a new European standard EN 17282, released in October 2020. Major discrepancies were demonstrated in the determined values of the static and dynamic characteristics using both approaches-especially in reference to the mats with higher stiffness.

Keywords: rheological model; testing procedures; under ballast mats; vibration isolation.

Abstract

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