Development of the Novel Rail Dampers Utilizing Particle Damping for the Rail Track Structure

Particle damping has various pronouncing merits in field application due to its straightforward mechanism. This technology is achieved by a granular material-filled enclosure that could dissipate vibration energy through the particle motion caused by collision and friction effects. This particle-damping technology will be used to manufacture cost-effective particle dampers (PDs). The novel-designed PDs are robust in extreme working conditions, in which the metal or ceramic-made grains could resist fatigue failure and high temperatures. This research presents the development of rail particle dampers (RPDs) in applying railway tracks' vibration reduction and noise cancellation. An impact hammer test was selected for a single-bay rail track laboratory test to evaluate different performances on different grain types. The investigation involves the grains' material, size, and filling ratio. In addition, the effectiveness of the RPDs was verified through an operating urban metro line on the viaduct structure. Full- and half-configurated installations of RPDs were adopted on-site. The RPDs can effectively reduce rail track vibration and mitigate noise under train by-passing. Consequently, the RPDs could ensure the railway's sustainable and reliable transportation in urban areas.