Abstract: Rail vibration absorber is an effective measure to mitigate rail vibration and noise. A theoretical model describing track-absorber system is built, in which a high-speed ballasted track is modeled as an infinite Euler-beam on a discrete foundation, and the rail vibration absorber is modeled as a discrete mass-spring-damper system that is amounted on the middle section of the rail between the two neighboring sleepers. The dynamical characteristics of the rail vibration absorber depend mainly on its mass parameters, stiffness parameters and damping parameters. By using this theoretical model, when rail is excited by a fixed harmonic unit force, the vertical damping characteristics of rail vibration absorber are studied and verified, and the influence of parameters on its dynamical behavior is studied. The obtained results show that the decay rate of rail vibration increases effectively around the tuning frequency by adhering the rail vibration absorbers to the rail, thus the rail Pinned-pinned resonance is suppressed, but meanwhile the use of the rail vibration absorbers causes new vibration response peaks and the vibration energy peaks beside the its tuned frequency. Through the optimal selection and grouping of the mass parameters, stiffness parameters and damping parameters of rail vibration absorber, the effectiveness of vibration absorption of it is notably increased.

Key words: Damping, High-speed ballasted track, Rail radiated noise, Vibration absorber, Wheel-rail noise